Wednesday, 5 February 2025

 Tim BULL (Gippsland East) (09:41): Even the Minister for Environment would be aware of the problems caused by his free camping promotion. It was a complete disaster. What occurred as a result of this was camp parks that are usually completely full from Boxing Day through to the middle of January were at best two-thirds full, meaning thousands less campers in East Gippsland alone. Cape Conran has 135 campsites; the most they had over the peak period was 100 filled.

It is not the fault of Parks Victoria staff. In fact they are sick of the abuse. They sent out reminders, but the bottom line is it was bad policy that was able to be abused. One Parks worker told me as recently as last week that one person booked out four campsites either side of their own under different family names so as not to have any neighbours. Other complainants told me of similar circumstances. At Corringle, 10 of 21 campsites were filled at peak time.

Minister, your own Parks staff were abused and have complained about what a disaster this is. There are many ways it can be remedied. We could make it half price in peak periods, so those booking have got some skin in the game; require a refundable deposit; or introduce a fine, as Queensland has done, for those who do not turn up but abuse the system, knowing that they are doing the wrong thing. Minister, whatever you choose, just have it fixed for Easter. Our economy cannot put up with our camp parks being not full at peak times.