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Penny Sharpe

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Long-footed potoroo in Kosciuszko National Park.

Rare discovery in Kosciuszko National Park as NSW rejects Barilaro-era brumby bill

Ecologists found a critically endangered creature in footage from a camera set up to monitor feral cats. It is found only in one other location in NSW.

  • Caitlin Fitzsimmons

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Millions of fish died near Menindee in outback NSW in March 2023.

‘Magic Pudding’ policies led to dying rivers, fish kills and dead platypuses. Is this the answer?

A new plan for 11 rivers in the Murray-Darling basin proposes limiting water extraction when river levels are low – as irrigators complain about “reform fatigue”.

  • Caitlin Fitzsimmons

Inside the 15-year mission to create the Great Koala National Park

It started with people power to protect koalas, gliders and trees and culminated in a NSW park with global ambition.

  • Caitlin Fitzsimmons, Janie Barrett and The Visual Stories Team
Minister for the North Coast Janelle SaffinNorth Coast MP, Premier Chris Minns and Minister for the Environment Penny Sharpe at Bongil Bongil National Park on Sunday.

Three reasons Minns backed the full Great Koala National Park

The state government has revealed its thinking behind declaring a 176,000-hectare reserve on the state’s North Coast, as local industry and unions express their fury.

  • Caitlin Fitzsimmons
Yarriabini National Park is part of the proposed Great Koala National Park.

A promise kept: The risky creation of the Great Koala National Park

Advocates for the new national park on the Mid North Coast will be relieved that the full 176,000 hectares of state forest will be included, but the timber industry will be furious.

  • Nick O'Malley
An orphaned eight-month-old koala found wandering alone near South West Rocks on the southern edge of the Great Koala National Park. There are 12,000 koalas living in the state forests that will become national park.

‘Conservation outcomes don’t get much bigger than this’: Great Koala National Park announced

A moratorium on logging will commence on Monday, while final legislation to create the park will await a federal decision on whether the state can earn carbon credits for protecting forest.

  • Caitlin Fitzsimmons
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Mark Latham escaped a motion to condemn him in parliament.

Mark Latham escapes condemnation over behaviour in parliament - at least for now

The government sought to condemn Latham for his controversial use of parliamentary privilege to reveal secret information.

  • Jessica McSweeney
Ballast Point Park in Birchgrove was built on a former Caltext Oil site, and for most of the 20th century operated as a key oil storage and distribution depot.

The Sydney spaces that are redefining the city’s heritage

The final jewels in Sydney’s “Green Necklace” have been heritage listed, following a concerted push by architects to safeguard green space along Sydney Harbour.

  • Cindy Yin
A koala at Smiths Creek in Leumeah near the new Georges River Koala National Park earlier in 2025.

Will a new national park protect Sydney’s chlamydia-free koalas?

The protection comes as the state pushes ahead with the construction of 73,000 homes on the Cumberland Plain, but koala corridors and road crossings are lagging development.

  • Caitlin Fitzsimmons
Land-clearing near Yarrowitch.

‘Perverse outcomes’: NSW a deforestation hotspot on par with Indonesia

Land-clearing in NSW has surged by 40 per cent as the Minns government is yet to ditch rules driven by former Nationals leader John Barilaro after more than two years in government.

  • Caitlin Fitzsimmons

Original URL: https://www.smh.com.au/topic/penelope-gail-sharpe-6fyb