Wednesday, 1 May 2024

 Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (16:44): My statement on reports relates to budget paper 3 of last year’s – currently this year’s – budget papers, and it goes to this:

The Department delivers effective management and governance of Victoria’s public land to protect its social, economic and environmental values and maximises its use by all Victorians.

Now, if you believe that, you believe that the tooth fairy actually comes down and does her job. It is absolutely disgraceful what this government is doing to our public land. Neglect is not a form of conservation. What we know from the department’s own report is that over 60 per cent of the employees of the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action actually work in metropolitan Melbourne. That is not the way you care for and actively manage our rural and regional spaces and public land. We know that there is a groundswell of people who are entirely frustrated with this government’s lip-service approach to consultation.

Last night in Drouin there was a meeting, and it was held by the Great Outdoors Taskforce’s ‘eminent panel’. There were over 250 people squashed into the Drouin Tennis Club, and at one point there were that many people who wanted to say what their opinion was that my friend Bill Schulz said to Karen Cain – who is a very nice human being; I know Karen Cain. She is the former president of the South Gippsland Labor Party. She is also a former history teacher – I do not believe she knows a great deal about forest science, ecology and the like. She stood on a table in that meeting and was trying to assess what people’s feelings were. Bill said, ‘Can I have everyone’s attention. What do you want? Do you all want any more national parks and reserves?’ And there was a clear no – no further restrictions on access to our state forests.

This ‘consultold’ version of government holds these panels – it is even open now – and holds these various applications where community can come in and have their say, but their views are overwhelmingly disregarded. If I go back a step to the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council’s central west investigation, where there were submissions put in to the assessment, over 60 per cent of those submissions said no to locking up camping, no to excluding horseriding, no to stopping dogs and people from walking through. They called for the continuation of prospecting and fossicking, four-wheel drive access, trail bike riding, rallies and the like, and also the continuation of hunting in permitted state forests and public land spaces. What happened, though, is VEAC went to government, and between them all they have come out with ‘We must create more parks.’

You have to look after the national parks and reserves that exist. I know that there are fantastic people that work in our national parks who absolutely care and want to see the maintenance and improved diversity values, but they are being hamstrung by insufficient resources and a lack of political will. What we do not want to see is more lock-up. We also understand that it is very important for people’s mental health to be able to get out into our public spaces, into our state forests, and share those experiences that I have just outlined. This government is going to do a disservice to our public land and our people if it listens to these so-called eminent panels who so supposedly actually listen to community. I am very concerned, as are many people who attended that Drouin meeting the other night, that this is a foregone conclusion. I call on the government to take stock and to take sense. The CSIRO report a few years ago said some of the biggest threats to our public land were bushfires – that is no shock to anyone who lives in the country – pests and weeds. This government needs to take stock and stop any thought of locking up more national parks.