And if it can’t be bought, it has said the land should be compulsorily acquired.

“The NSW Government made this mess and now they must fix it,” Greens NSW MLC Mehreen Faruqi said.

“The community and the Port Stephens koala population shouldn’t be made to pay the price for the government’s incompetence.”

The six hectare site was identified as being surplus to needs when the Department of Education listed the six hectare site sale at auction in June 2016.

That’s despite letters to the government which explained the site’s value as koala habitat.

It went for $250,000 at hammer fall to a Maitland property developer, Paul Unicomb.

Parliamentary Secretary for the Hunter Scot MacDonald MLC soon after described it as a mistake.

"I'm happy to admit that we need better process for reserving these kind of parcels of land for habitat," he said.

"If there is surplus land like this being sold we need to jump on it for habitat.”

Dr Faruqi, the Greens spokeswoman for the environment, had previously written to the then Minister for Education, Adrian Piccoli, to urge him not to sell the land.

She had also called for more transparency and community consultation.

“It has been more than a year since the Mambo Wetlands were mistakenly sold by the NSW Government and we are still no closer to knowing its fate,” she said.

“The preeminent issue is the permanent protection of this land - the buyer knew the land has rich biodiversity value and that there was a strong community campaign to stop the sale.

“If it came down to it, I would not be against the government using compulsory acquisition powers to acquire the land at a fair price.”

Dr Faruqi said the sale troubled her in light of changes to the Native Vegetation Act the government has said will give farmers greater discretion in paddocks statewide.

“Koalas have declined more than a quarter in the last 15 to 21 years and with the government’s land clearing laws due to take effect in August, it is essential that koala habitat is given permanent protection,” she said.

“The community are demanding answers but it seems like no one knows what is going on.”