Greens split as Senate approves forest carbon credits, enabling NSW koala park credits
Topic: politicsRegion: North AmericaUpdated: i2 outletsSources: 3Spectrum: Mixed⏱ 3 min read
Story Summary
SITUATION
Three Greens senators crossed the floor to support the Nationals' disallowance motion, but the Improved Native Forest Management method passed the Senate after seven Greens, one Liberal and key independents voted with the government. The vote clears the way for state governments — including NSW to seek carbon credits for the Great Koala National Park — and NSW will introduce legislation once the Clean Energy Regulator approves the project.
Coveragetap to expand ▾Spectrum: Mixed🌍ME: 1 · Asia: 1
Political Spectrum
Position is inferred from coverage mix.
i2 outlets · Center
Left
Center
Right
Left: 1
Center: 1
Right: 0
Geography Coverage
Distribution of where coverage is coming from.
i2 unique outlets · Dominant: Middle East
KEY FACTS
- The Greens, led by Larissa Waters, voted with Labor to allow state governments to earn carbon credits from protecting forests.
- The carbon credits measure is linked to the NSW government’s plan for the Great Koala National Park and can be used by other states.
- Greens leader Larissa Waters said the party secured changes to improve the scheme, including protections to stop coal and gas using offsets, reduce logging and protect forests, and will pursue broader concerns about the Safeguard Mechanism and ACCUs through other avenues.
- Former Greens leaders Bob Brown and Christine Milne had urged senators to side with the Nationals to block the scheme, but most Greens senators did not follow that call.
- Vanessa Bleyer had been sworn in only days earlier as a replacement for Peter Whish-Wilson.
- Larissa Waters said no one in the party room or outside the party had raised concerns about her leadership and described party reconciliation as involving "lots of discussions and lots of hugs."
- The INFM method was put forward by the NSW government in 2024 and approved by the Albanese government in June (year given in source).
- NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe said the state government will introduce legislation as soon as the project is approved by the Clean Energy Regulator.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
The immediate backdrop is an international security crisis that has sharpened domestic political pressures: in March 2026 the United States and Israel began coordinated military strikes on Iranian infrastructure, part of a larger regional escalation that followed months of heightened attacks on shipping and proxy clashes across the Gulf and Levant earlier that year.
That international turmoil coincided with a fraught Australian policy environment over land-use, emissions accounting and state–federal authority, where debates over who can claim carbon credits for forests had become central to parliamentary bargaining. Those debates sit on a legal and policy architecture developed over more than a decade.
Brief
The Greens, led by Larissa Waters, voted with Labor to let state governments claim carbon credits for protecting native forests — a change tied to the NSW government’s Great Koala National Park plan (per smh.com.au).
In the same Senate sitting three Greens senators crossed the floor to back the Nationals on a pivotal vote, producing the rare spectacle of intra-party dissent playing out on the chamber floor (per smh.com.au).
Waters defended her leadership, saying no one in the party room or outside had raised concerns and describing a reconciliation among senators involving "lots of discussions and lots of hugs" (per smh.com.au). Vanessa Bleyer, sworn in only days earlier as a replacement for Peter Whish-Wilson, was part of the altered Greens lineup during the vote (per smh.com.au).
The carbon credits measure explicitly allows state governments to earn tradable credits from protecting forests; proponents framed it as a practical tool to support conservation through existing carbon markets and to complement NSW’s Great Koala National Park proposal (per smh.com.au).
Dissenting Greens who crossed the floor sided with the Nationals, signaling internal disagreement over whether the policy appropriately balances conservation integrity and market mechanisms, though the source does not list the three senators by name (per smh.com.au).
Waters and long-serving South Australian Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young both publicly affirmed Waters’ continuing leadership after the vote, arguing the party had moved past the dispute and is ready to press a broader climate agenda in parliament (per smh.com.au).
The episode leaves open questions about party unity ahead of future votes on climate policy and how forest protection projects will be assessed and verified under the carbon-credit rules — details the source does not provide (per smh.com.au).
Sources
2 of 2 linked articles