Now the Nats are choosing cute ‘n’ cuddly over facts with koalas

New South Wales Deputy Premier John Barilaro has ‘kissed and made up’ with Environment Minister Matt ‘Green’ Kean after taking time off on ‘stress leave’ last year. Yesterday he told a reporter “I believe in climate change” and reportedly opened the door to shutting down logging of old-growth forest as part of his reconciliation with North Shore Liberals.

Logging old-growth has actually been banned in NSW for many years, but grossly inaccurate mapping has been used for enforcement. This is similar to the proposed koala protection policy that ignited the original firestorm. Curiously there was no mention of koalas. 

However, a day later, the government quietly released its response, dated December…