Great Koala National Park would create thousands of jobs, study finds, but at what cost?

An ambitious plan to create a 180-kilometre koala conservation reserve along the NSW Mid North Coast could generate thousands of jobs and add more than $1 billion to the state’s economic output over the next 15 years, a study has found.

The Coffs Harbour and Bellingen councils, along with Destination North Coast, commissioned the University of Newcastle to undertake an economic and environmental analysis of the proposed Great Koala National Park (GKNP).

Lead researcher Roberta…