NSW farmer fined record $1m for wiping out critical koala habitat for private airstrip larger than Sydney airport

The court heard evidence it was ‘moderately likely’ that prior to the clearing the land was home to koalas and a variety of threatened species. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

The former graincorp chair and prominent wheat farmer Ronald Greentree has been handed a record fine of more than $1m for illegal land-clearing in the north-west of New South Wales.

Greentree and his company Auen Grain were sentenced in the state’s land and environment court on Friday for offences related to illegal clearing of an area larger than Sydney airport on the property “Boolcarrol”, north-west of Narrabri.

The sentence follows a 2022 court decision that found Greentree and Auen Grain guilty of eight separate land-clearing events at the property between December 2016 and January 2019.