On the Mid-North Coast of NSW, Labor has promised a vast new national park to protect more than 12,000 koalas.

But there’s a catch.

The Minns government wants carbon credits to help pay for it. By ending planned logging, it could generate credits that are then sold to companies to offset their emissions.

For the Greens, that creates a dilemma at a moment when both major parties are bleeding voters – voters who are walking straight past the Greens as an alternative.

They want the forests protected, but have long opposed carbon offsets that allow big polluters to keep polluting. Now those two positions are about to collide.

Today, Australia Institute co-chief executive Richard Denniss on koalas, carbon offsets and whether the Greens are still willing to pick the big fights.

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