NSW’s koala national park will protect threatened species and cap logging across the state. Could the Greens really block it? | Adam Morton

The Albanese government approved a proposal allowing the park to create carbon credits worth hundreds of millions of dollars, sparking a schism among environmentalists What qualifies as a win in environmental campaigning? Is it when a huge forest area that is home to a stack of threatened species, including koalas, and has been the focus of years and years of campaigning, is protected from logging? Or does it depend on how the battle is won – for example, if it lets companies claim that the forest is helping cut their pollution? It sounds like the start of a philosophical debate, but isn’t. It’s at the heart of a dispute dividing environment and climate activists, and is being weighed by the Greens ahead of a vote in the Senate next month. In blunt terms, the minor party is considering whether to make an extraordinary call: to support a Nationals motion to strike down a Labor plan that would create a long-discussed great koala national park in northern New South Wales, and significantly reduce native forest logging in the state. The vote was scheduled for last week but – in a sign of how vexed the issue has become – has been delayed until next month after the Greens asked