The man who kicked off the NSW Nationals and Liberals stoush over the state’s koala policy is refusing to budge on the issue.

The government’s policy to protect koala habitat has Nationals worried it will severely limit the way owners can manage their land.

The Nationals leader John Barilaro has since backed down from original threats to abstain from supporting any government legislation until their demands over koala policy are met.

However, Nationals Member for Clarence, Chris Gulaptis told Ray Hadley his “resolve remains unchanged” and if the Liberals go ahead with the proposed policy he is “prepared to go to the crossbenchers”.

“Quite frankly Ray, we have followed the Liberals blindly on a number of policies that have hurt regional communities … we’ve done that twice.

“I’m not going to be bitten a third time.”

Mr Gulaptis says he is standing up for farmers doing it tough because “they believe they don’t have a future in this state”.

“This is a handbrake on kickstarting regional communities, I can assure you of that.”

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