WWF senior research scientist Stuart Blanch said he would also speak from the floor to express concerns about the delays and continued logging. During the last government, Blanch was among a group of scientists who advised that about 55,000 hectares of the proposed park should be immediately protected as a key koala habitat.

The new Labor government has announced an end to logging in what it called “koala hubs” inside the proposed park, but these covered only around 10,000 hectares.

“They can’t go on destroying koala habitat while they get the boundaries sorted out,” Blanch said. “The government is being too cautious and it has misread the mood of the people.”

He said he would also call for protection for the koalas outside the park and on private land.

Koala policy nearly blew up the previous Coalition state government because the Nationals fiercely resisted restrictions on farmers clearing their land.

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This week, businessman and activist Geoff Cousins, who is fighting to end native forest logging in NSW, held a separate meeting with Environment Minister Penny Sharpe and Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty to press the case for an end to native forest logging in NSW.

He said he told them the government could not argue it was acting to save the koala while its own logging operations were destroying its habitat and called for the chair of Forestry Corporation to be removed after a contractor was found guilty of assaulting an environmentalist.

Both Moriarty’s and Sharpe’s offices confirmed the meetings had taken place but would not comment.

Earlier this week, the government announced changes to the Cumberland Plain Conservation Plan, the planning instrument that will allow upfront biodiversity approvals to clear and develop the area for housing.

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The Minns government has retained the former government’s plan to build homes across Greater Macarthur, Greater Penrith to Eastern Creek, Western Sydney Aerotropolis and Wilton.

The updated plan, which Sharpe flagged in parliament as “not a radical departure,” has the same amount of land earmarked for development but provides $100 million to increase the size of wildlife corridors, improve koala fencing, and fast-track woodland preservation. In total, it protects 5325 hectares.

Sharpe said the plan “gets the balance right between the urgent need for housing and infrastructure in our growing city and conserving and protecting our native habitat and wildlife”.

Total Environment Centre director Jeff Angel said he had “significant concerns with the impact of urban sprawl allowed”, but the updated plan was a “definite improvement”.

Greens environment spokeswoman Sue Higginson said greenfield development was the wrong direction for urban planning in 2024, and the updated plan was “marginal tinkering” of bad policy.

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