A tussle over koala habitat legislation has prompted the NSW Premier to give the state's Nationals members less than 24 hours to decide whether they're in or out of her ministry.
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Gunnedah-based MLC Sarah Mitchell and Tamworth MP Kevin Anderson stood with Deputy Premier John Barilaro on Thursday to announce the party would effectively sit on the crossbench over the Koala Habitat Protection State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP).
They said they wouldn't attend joint party room or parliamentary leadership meetings and would abstain from voting on government bills - except those vital to regional NSW - until their amendments were considered.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian issued a statement condemning their move.
"If required, I will attend Government House tomorrow and swear in a new ministry," she said.
Ms Berejiklian said she had "already made clear" to Deputy Premier John Barilaro his policy concerns were listed for discussion at an upcoming cabinet meeting and would be considered by the Joint Party Room.
"It is my strong preference that existing Coalition arrangements stay in place," Premier Berejiklian said in her statement.
She gave them until 9am tomorrow to "indicate to me whether they wish to remain in my Cabinet or else sit on the crossbench. They cannot do both."
Earlier that day Mr Anderson said the Nationals had been forced to draw a line in the sand after the Liberals "walked away from the negotiating table". Mr Anderson said he signed off on the policy earlier this year "in good faith".
He believed the Liberal party would make changes to better balance the policy so farmers were not sidelined.
However, he says the Liberals did not follow through.
"We don't believe that the new State Environmental Planning Policy Koala Habitat Protection has the balance right in relation to farming, agriculture and koala habitat," he said.
"Our proposed changes will support koalas but in the current SEPP form, it doesn't support farmers.
"We, in good faith, worked with the planning minister on this planning policy with the view to introduce guidelines to get that balance right, particularly around core koala habitat, the koala tree species, looking at the threshold on species, and removing Private Native Forestry from the koala SEPP because we believe it should sit with Local Land Services.
"The things we're raising today were things we raised with the Liberals back then when we agreed with the policy, and they said, 'yes, we will work with you'.
"It's disrespectful now to be told the Liberals don't want to be part of it and have walked away from the negotiating table."
In a statement on Thursday afternoon, Minister for Agriculture Adam Marshall said since his time as mayor of Gunnedah shire, he had "always been a massive supporter" of having a "robust" koala SEPP in NSW.
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However Mr Marshall said current policy was "a gross overreach and will hurt farmers while failing to deliver positive outcomes for koalas".
"Planning Minister Rob Stokes presented the guidelines for the policy at the beginning of the year ... since then my colleagues and I have been working constructively to fix what are some glaring problems with the policy."
Before Ms Berejiklian's statement, Mr Anderson suggested Liberals "get in the car and put Sydney in the rear view mirror and see what we have done to protect our koala habitats."
