There is a real risk the Liberal Party will cave into the Nationals' demands if the public does not speak up now for this iconic species.Koalas are on track to become extinct by 2050 if we don't stop cutting down their trees and destroying their forests.

If the Nationals get their way, that could happen in the next decade.Wanting to retain the right to kill koalas is an extraordinary hill for the Nationals to want to die on, but here we are.

The National Party under leader John Barilaro has dictated environmental policy to the Liberal Party and the whole state for the past decade. They've ramped up land clearing, defended feral pests, bungled water management, and intensified logging after the bushfires.

Now they want to tear down the koala planning policy, one of the government's few positive environmental initiatives.

This policy is one small measure to ensure koalas don't become extinct in NSW, and it actually gives landholders more certainty and more information about critical habitat on their properties.

People who have lived on the land for generations love the bush and share our goal of ensuring koalas survive and thrive into the future.

Mr Barilaro says he's for farmers and the bush, but all of his actions show he is the mouthpiece of the minerals industry, multinational irrigation corporations and big agribusinesses.

Ed Coleman

Port Macquarie