The Minns government has confirmed its long-awaited great koala national park, announcing it will add 176,000 hectares of forest to existing reserves in mid-north New South Wales to create one of the largest national parks in the state and protect more than 12,000 koalas.

The premier, Chris Minns, and environment minister, Penny Sharpe, said the government would put an immediate moratorium on logging within the park’s boundaries and roll out a jobkeeper style support package for workers at affected timber mills in the region.

After months of pressure from community environment advocates frustrated at the time it was taking for the government to fulfil its election commitment while logging of the area continued, the NSW government accepted that all 176,000 hectares of state forest that were assessed for potential inclusion should be protected.

Forest advocates, who have spent more than a decade pushing successive state governments to establish a great koala national park, welcomed the “historic” announcement.

“Finalisation of the Great Koala National Park will be a historic step forward in forest conservation, on par with Wran’s 1982 rainforest decision,” said the North East Forest Alliance spokesperson Dailan Pugh, referencing the Wran government’s decision to protect 120,000 hectares of forest in north-east NSW.

State forest will be added to existing reserves and parks inland of Coffs Harbour stretching south close to Kempsey and north towards Grafton to create a national park of 476,000 hectares.

The government said the new park would protect old-growth forests that were among the world’s biodiversity hotspots, home to more than 100 threatened species, including more than 12,000 koalas and 36,000 greater gliders, and important water catchments.

“Koalas are at risk of extinction in the wild in NSW – that’s unthinkable. The Great Koala National Park is about turning that around,” Minns said.

NSW premier Chris Minns said the government ‘listened carefully’ during consultation on the park. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

Sharpe said the park “has been a dream for more than a decade. It will ensure koalas survive into the future so our grandchildren will still be able to see them in the wild.”

Minns said the government had “listened carefully” during consultation on the park and would make sure “workers, businesses and communities are supported every step of the way”.

The temporary logging moratorium was due to commence Monday and would remain in place until legislation was enacted to formally establish the park. This would happen after the government had resolved whether or not it could register a carbon credit project under a new method being considered by the Albanese government.

The government said the new national park covered 21% of the forests in the north coast region and protection of the area would affect timber supply. It said the moratorium would have an impact on six timber mills and about 300 jobs.

Sign up: AU Breaking News email

As part of a “comprehensive assistance” package for affected workers and businesses, the government said jobkeeper-style payments would support workers by covering their salaries, and financial assistance would be offered for businesses to put towards operating costs.

The support package also included free mental health, financial and legal counselling services and training support for workers and their families.

The government said it had contacted every affected mill and would begin discussions about long-term options for workers, endeavouring to support communities in the transition.

skip past newsletter promotion

Sign up to Breaking News Australia

Get the most important news as it breaks

Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Tara Moriarty, the state agriculture minister, said her government remained committed to a “sustainable forestry industry”.

“Our government’s priority is to fully support impacted workers with payments and services during this major change,” she said.

The government said it would also provide an additional $60m for the state’s national parks service to support the establishment of the park – on top of $80m announced in 2023 – and $6m to develop a package to support new tourism and business opportunities in the mid-north coast region associated with the park.

NEFA thanked Sharpe for keeping the election commitment and ensuring there was a “robust environmental assessment”.

“We trust that she will now see this through to fruition,” Pugh said.

He said the national park would have longterm environmental benefits, including as an important climate refuge for wildlife as the effects of global heating increase, as well as economic benefits to the region.

The government expects the park to be a key domestic and overseas tourism destination, generating an additional $163m for the state’s economy.

“We regret that delays in finalising the decision enabled the Forestry Corporation to log and degrade important parts of the park, but are relieved that logging has finally stopped,” Pugh said.

The announcement came as new analysis from the Australian Conservation Foundation showed more clearing of koala habitat has been approved under Australia’s nature laws in 2025 so far than in any other year since the marsupial was listed as a threatened species.