Have koalas on your land? The NSW government is looking to buy "good quality" property inhabited by the native Australian marsupial so it can be managed and conserved by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
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It has a kitty of $20 million to purchase the private land, as part of a broader $44.7 million package to protect koalas in the wild.
"The NSW government is determined to increase the amount of land where koalas can safely live and be protected from predators," NSW Environment Minister Gabrielle Upton said in a statement on Wednesday.
Expressions of interest are initially being sought from private landholders in Port Macquarie, the Southern Highlands, Port Stephens and the state's far northeast.
The government in May announced that more than 24,000 hectares of unproductive state forest will be set aside for the iconic animal.
But the move was criticised by the Nature Conservation Council, which claimed only two per cent of the land is high-quality koala habitat.
The preserved land is also away from the coastal forests where the best koala habitats exist, the not-for-profit organisation said.
The North East Forest Alliance was also critical, saying there are many state forests more important to koalas that the government has ignored.
Dominica Sanda, Australian Associated Press
