TWEED Mayor Katie Milne has made an impassioned plea to the Pottsville and District Men's Shed to give her time to secure private land to house their group.

Speaking at Pottsville's Ambrose Brown Park today, the emotional and at times teary mayor, said she was devastated by the ongoing turmoil surrounding the Shed and their application to set up shop at Black Rocks.

"It's been a terrible time with the koala issues lately," Cr Milne said, admitting she was "an emotional basket case" after finding her first dead koala by the side of the road at Terranora this week.

"Normally the whole Tweed community it totally united for the koalas but the conflict over the Pottsville Men's Shed has caused division and hostilities in this community that usually acts with such generosity and grace towards each other.

"We were on track to achieve a fantastic outcome for the koala and the Men's Shed but this looks like it has gone completely off the rails now."

Cr Milne was joined by Deputy Mayor Chris Cherry and Cr Ron Cooper at the gathering who, along with the remaining councillors, will vote on Thursday on the granting of a temporary five-year licence to the Men's Shed organisation.

The vote is the culmination of three year's work by the Men's Shed to set up a base in Pottsville but their preferred location at Black Rocks sports field has come under fire from environmentalists concerned over their potential impact on the nearby koala population.

Today's pro-koala gathering, which drew young and old to listen to an array of speakers and musicians, followed a convoy by Pottsville residents in support of the Men's Shed at Black Rocks two weeks ago.

Cr Milne said council had identified two parcels of private land in Pottsville which would be suitable for the Shed, but a planned meeting with the State Government to seek funding to purchase the land was derailed with the resignation of former Premier Mike Baird just one day before their meeting.

The mayor said she was now unlikely to receive an outcome on the funding before April - too late for the sheduled council vote on the issue this Thursday.

"The koala corridor at Black Rocks will be a construction site by then," Cr Milne said.

"I have suggested council could take out a loan in the interum to buy these properties and make it faster for the Men's Shed and get the State Government to reimburse us. It seems hopeless.

"It will now be up to the Men's Shedders whether they agree to be housed at a site in Pottsville that is one minute further from the town than the Black Rocks site would be from the town, and a few months more for the development application to go through. I can't see them agreeing to it though."

Cr Milne warned if things did not improve for Tweed Coast koalas, which are listed as "endangered" by the State Government, they would go extinct in the near future.

"I am determined not to let the extinction of the koala happen on my watch, but I am only one of seven councillors who have a say in this," she said.

Cr Milne told the Tweed Daily News she would endeavour to meet with Men's Shed members this week to outline her proposal, much of which is commericial in confidence and unable to be publicly shared.

Newly appointed Greens Upper House MLC Dawn Walker said the plight of the koala was dire across the state.

Ms Walker said a report last year by the Chief Scientist into the state's koala population estimated there to be just 36,000 left in NSW, while the Australian Koala Foundation estimated that figure may be as low as 10,000 koalas.

"The Chief Scientist also estimated we've seen a 26% decline in the koala population over the past three koala generations - that's 15 to 21 years - and if we don't take action now we'll see the same rate of decline over the next three generations," Ms Walker said.

Pottsville resident Irene Tims, who lives in the Koala Beach estate, said the situation was very sad.

"I feel like I have moved to paradise but I can't believe how this has divided the community," Ms Tims said.

"The koalas are so beautiful, I came here because of the koalas... and I want to do everything I can to protect them. I just want everyone to be in harmony, let's try and work together."

Describing the gathering as a great success, Threatened Species Conservation Society president David Norris said 207 people had signed their petition on the day, with people coming and going over its three hour duration.*

* This report has been updated to reflect attendance across the event and not just at the time of Cr Milne's speech.