An end to native logging across 365,000 ha of state forest between Wollongong and the Victorian border would be a tourism bonanza, according to a business delegation visiting state parliament today to press for the creation of a new national park.
An open letter signed by over 120 South Coast businesses will be received by South Coast MP Liza Butler on behalf of the State Government. It calls for the establishment of the Great Southern Forest, a new tourism, recreation and wildlife mecca resourced under the same funding model as the recently created Great Koala National Park on the Mid North Coast.
The delegation includes business representatives from recreation, hospitality, sustainable timber, First Nations cultural tourism and landscaping industries showing the diverse support for the proposal.
A recent Destination NSW report shows nature driven tourism already underpins the local economy with the South Coast hosting 10.3 million visitors in 2025, who spent $4.2 billion. And a 2024 Destination Southern NSW report found one in ten regional jobs depend on the industry.
The recently approved Improved Native Forest Management carbon method means an end to logging in the borders of the proposed Great Southern Forest, could generate more than $500 million. That could be earmarked for park infrastructure, First Nation rangers, weed and pest control and bushfire prevention.
Belinda Donovan, a wildlife veterinary nurse who runs Mudgeroo Wombat and Wildlife Refuge at the gateway to Jervis Bay, said wildlife was a central part of the South Coast’s tourism pitch.
“You cannot sell Australia to the world as a wildlife destination while destroying the very habitat that allows its wildlife to exist,” Ms Donovan said.
“No visitor wants to see a landscape of cleared forestry coupes,” said Andrew Burns of Gondwana Coast Fossil Walks. “It hurts our businesses, discourages visitors and destroys jobs. Protecting the corridor of natural landscapes in the Great Southern Forest is critical to our economy and our livelihoods,” Mr Burns said.
Jimmy Woodriff of Pacific Permaculture said places such as Costa Rica had shown the way..
“Costa Rica decided standing forest was worth more than cleared paddock, and it is now one of the world’s great nature destinations. We have the same ingredients here: forest, sea and wildlife, a couple of hours from a city of five million. This is an easy win for the state,” Mr Woodriff said.
Alasdair Stratton from AJS Solutions, a natural resource management and eco tourism business owner said “healthy forests are absolutely vital to my business and also to the social fabric of the NSW South Coast. In my work I get to meet local, regional and international visitors to the NSW South Coast and the one message I get loud and clear from them is how beautiful and unspoilt the area is. This is the reputation that the NSW South Coast rides on economically and socially. Without this unspoilt tag and reputation I would not have a business and we would have a vastly reduced tourism industry.” Mr Stratton said
