NSW Premier defends state’s koala plan as outgoing MP Catherine Cusack slams it as 'sheer madness'

New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet is standing by his government's environmental record after outgoing Liberal MP Catherine Cusack slammed its koala plan as "sheer madness" and "grotesque". Key points: Catherine Cusack has criticised the NSW government's koala plan as "sheer madness" She has shared fresh claims about the politics behind the "koala wars" and taken aim at her factional moderate Liberal colleague Matt Kean Treasurer Matt Kean has rejected the recollection and received the backing of his Premier Ms Cusack made the claims during a parliamentary debate on Wednesday night in the state's Upper House on a Greens motion to create a "Great Koala Park" on the mid-north coast at Urunga. The north coast-based MLC revealed conversations she had with then-premier Gladys Berejiklian and former environment minister Matt Kean during the infamous "koala wars" that almost fractured the coalition in 2020. During the debate on the Greens bill, Labor's Penny Sharpe said although the opposition "urgently supports the need to protect koala habitat", it could not support the Greens proposal.