Wednesday, 4 February 2026

 Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (19:00): (1499) My adjournment matter this evening is for the Minister for Environment, and the action I seek is for the minister to begin work on the proposed Wilsons Promontory sanctuary. It has been proposed for some time. I was just trying to find the exact dates, and I literally found it a second ago. On 18 November 2020 the government announced a revitalisation of Wilsons Promontory, which includes the 10-kilometre fence across the Yanakie Isthmus. It is pretty extraordinary that here we are now in 2026 and that project has not even begun. I believe that tenders have gone out and that a contract is ready to be awarded. The most recent update on the Parks Victoria website indicates that the project will begin in early 2026. But given, as I said, that this was announced on 18 November in 2020, five and a bit years ago, I am seeking for the minister to actually get it happening.

This is a project that the Nationals and Liberals actually committed to in the 2018 election, and it has been around for a long time before that. While there is some scepticism about this project, and that is understandable, the idea is pretty simple. Wilsons Prom is a massive area – 50,000 hectares – and is separated from the mainland by a very narrow isthmus, the Yanakie Isthmus. So this 10-kilometre fence can actually set up this biosphere, if you like, and give us the opportunity over a period of time to then remove the pests, and pest animals in particular, from the Prom and ensure that a whole range of wildlife and native vegetation are better protected. This project has been a long time coming. It is supposed to be starting soon, but I am calling on the minister to get on with it and ensure that it actually does start and is completed as soon as possible.