Wednesday, 30 July 2025

Petitions

National parks

Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (17:49): I move:

That the petition be taken into consideration.

I rise to speak on the petition that I tabled on 27 May this year, bearing 11,974 signatures and so qualifying for debate in this house. The petition requests that the Legislative Council call on the government to not create the Wombat–Lerderderg National Park or Mount Buangor National Park and keep state forests open for public access and the enjoyment of traditional activities. I fully support the petitioners’ request and call on all members of this house to support the take-note motion on this petition.

This is not the first petition to come before Parliament concerning the Allan Labor government’s plans to create new national parks. The government has flagged its intention to pass legislation to combine Wombat State Forest with the Lerderderg State Park to create the Wombat–Lerderderg National Park, covering 44,000 hectares between Bacchus Marsh and Daylesford. But this plan is vigorously opposed by bush users from all over Victoria, who are seriously worried that converting state parks and forests to national park status will lead to the continual restriction of activity in the area until Victorians are effectively locked out of their own public land.

This petition is the third this year, with a record number of signatures, and they have all been against new national parks. Back in May we debated a petition sponsored by Ms Bath that had over 40,000 signatures, the biggest petition Victoria has ever seen, and there was a petition tabled in the other place by the member for Narracan that had almost 14,000 signatures. Altogether, over 66,000 Victorians have signed the three petitions saying they do not want new national parks in Victoria. Wherever they live in Victoria, whether they live in the city or travel out to our state forests, the people who signed this petition are people who use and enjoy public land, who make the most of the Victorian bush, walk their dogs, fossick for gold, fish, hunt, drive and explore back-country tracks.

Lisa Neville, a former Labor government minister, led a taskforce looking at whether there needed to be any further national parks in Victoria, and that report recommended that no new national parks be created in Victoria. But disappointingly, the government specifically prevented Lisa Neville and her committee from looking at the areas that will be contained in the Wombat–Lerderderg and Mount Buangor national parks. The Allan Labor government should listen carefully to Lisa Neville and the voices of those who signed this petition, but all the signs are that Labor will ignore bush users and push ahead with its plan to close off the forests.

In August last year at the bush summit in Bendigo Jacinta Allan herself publicly promised not to restrict activities in Victorian state forests, saying, ‘I will never put a padlock on our public forests,’ but just seven weeks later the Premier revealed that promise to be a lie and confirmed Labor’s plan to convert state forests into national parks. The government claims that converting state forests into national parks will not have any impact on bush users. The Minister for Environment said that most existing recreational activities will be able to continue in the new national park, but we know this is an empty promise. Jacinta Allan cannot be trusted to keep her word and keep the state forests open. Once public forests are turned into national parks it will only take a flick of the pen for a Labor minister to change the rules, tighten restrictions and lock bush user groups out of the forests and parks.

Creeping restrictions will eventually end traditional activities that Victorians have enjoyed in their public land for so long. Deer hunting will be allowed but only during permitted seasons and in permitted areas. The proposed national park area is a top 20 per cent priority area for deer control in the West Victoria Deer Control Plan 2023–28. If we want to protect the flora and fauna in the Wombat State Forest and Lerderderg State Park, then we need to make it easier to hunt and control deer in those areas, rather than making it harder by imposing national park status and the restrictions that will come with that. Labor says that camping will be allowed but only in designated camping sites, effectively ending the right for all Victorians to freely camp and light cooking fires in state forests. Four-wheel drives will be allowed but only on certain tracks. Four-wheel drivers often clear the tracks of fallen trees as they drive around, but once tracks are closed they will no longer be cleared and they will become overgrown. That may then end up blocking access for CFA trucks that are rushing to respond to fires in the parks. Collecting firewood will be banned, meaning fuel loads will build up in the forests, increasing fire risk. The Labor Minister for Environment has said that dog walking and horseriding will be permitted but only in areas specified by the land manager. The devil is in the detail here, and Labor will restrict those activities further.

Jacinta ERMACORA (Western Victoria) (17:55): I thank Ms Lovell and the many people who have signed this petition. I think really we have probably got furious agreement here. Our government is very committed to Victorians entering and enjoying national parks and our public open spaces. I think the signatories to this petition are very much expressing a desire to engage with the natural environment and in particular with our wonderful public lands in Victoria. Thanks to each of the people that signed the petition and got involved in this.

Victoria’s forests are the heart of our state. Our forests are spaces for families to experience their favourite activities like camping, fishing, hunting and walking. We see a future where the benefits of our forests are enjoyed by all Victorians. The great outdoors is to be experienced and admired, not locked away. Our focus is bringing more families to the bush and more jobs to the regions while making sure we protect what Victorians love most about the bush. Across Victoria we have 8 million hectares of public land; around 40 per cent of our land mass is public land. We are incredibly lucky to have a varied and unique landscape, from stunning coastlines to rugged forests, from chilly mountain peaks to dry grasslands. This land is there for the public to enjoy, to do activities they love, whether that be hiking, camping, fishing, hunting, mountain bike riding, horseriding or birdwatching, and much, much more.

I myself enjoy mountain bike riding. I have ridden at the Sawpit in Narrawong through the beautiful tracks there. I have ridden on the rail trail from Camperdown all the way through to Timboon and Port Campbell. I have ridden at Mount Buninyong near Ballarat. I have great aspirations to ride at Creswick. I have not been there yet; I am very jealous. I have ridden on the Gold Coast at Nerang in the beautiful mountainsides there; in Newcastle through mud and water – it really was not a lot of fun at Newcastle; at Mount Stromlo in Canberra – the rocks and the steep hills were fantastic and at Mount Majura, with the beautiful pines; and on tracks in Nelson in Victoria as well. I must admit I have ridden on the little mini mountain bike tracks in Warrnambool. They are not as good as Forrest, which are probably what I would describe as my home tracks. There are a lot of tracks at Forrest in the Otway Ranges, and that is where I frequently ride.

As someone who thoroughly enjoys national parks, I fully understand – and so does the Allan Labor government – the joy of exercising in the natural environment but also at the same time showing respect to that natural environment and improving our own health. So I am extremely supportive. As I said, I think we are in furious agreement that national parks are for all Victorians, and we absolutely should not be locking them up. That is why we have to find a balance between ensuring the places we love survive for generations into the future but also maintaining that accessibility. Certainly with mountain bike riding, I know a lot of the clubs are involved in tree planting and in looking after the environment as well. I will just close by saying thanks again to those who signed the petition.

Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (18:00): I am pleased to associate with this take-note motion from my colleague Ms Lovell and thank her for the work that she has done in this space and thank all those 11,974 people who signed this e-petition in state Parliament. We recognise their dedication overwhelmingly to having continued access to public land but also enjoying the sport or the variety of traditional recreational activities that they participate in. They are also overwhelmingly incredible stewards of that space, wherever it is – in this case, it happens to be the Wombat, the Wellsford, the Pyrenees and the Mount Cole areas – because they care about that land, and overwhelmingly they leave it a better place than when they found it.

We heard from a government member just then a great dissertation about the importance of having access and how much the government member loves national parks. ‘We shouldn’t lock them up’ were the words that I heard coming out of her mouth. Yet back in 2017 the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council actually took over the review of this particular area, and the actual footprint was around 80,000 hectares in the central west investigation, it was called. It did that, and many of the people who signed Ms Lovell’s petition are quite frustrated, I am sure, with VEAC, because it is supposed to be a forensic scientific entity that assesses on merit and assesses the science. There were a couple of rounds of submissions. There were about 3000 submissions to VEAC’s first and second responses. Indeed overwhelmingly in the second tranche 66 per cent of those submissions actually opposed the establishment of a new national park in that area. Moving forward, what we are seeing is the government ignoring those people and going with what many people feel is a biased position from VEAC.

One particular group of those people, called Bush Users Group United, actually spent a forensic amount of time looking into the report and were very frustrated; they felt that it was biased. That was the Honourable Ms D’Ambrosio that led that. It has come through. We have a relatively new Minister for Environment, and that minister has said that it is a historic recommendation – historic from 2021 – to implement this as a national park. I do not consider a recommendation and then a commitment in 2021 historic. The minister does have the capacity to unwind that and leave it as state forest, and that is what we are asking for and will continue to ask this government to do, as have those 11,000 people who have signed this.

One of the key things that we should all be focused on is active management of our public land. I have probably said that about a thousand times in here: active management of public land. I will tell you of one other group who are very committed to that – and we spoke with them, my colleague Mrs Broad and I, in Bendigo the other day – the Dja Dja Wurrung. The Dja Dja Wurrung in that region are very keen to see forest gardening, and it is a fabulous term. Think about that: forest gardening. It is tending the environment, it is actively managing the environment and it is utilising the environment for the best outcomes for country and for people. People should be on the landscape. We have certainly heard Taungurung say that as well, the land and water corporation there. They are people in the landscape, using the landscape.

What the government has not done is make a compelling argument for locking this up. If it is about conservation, we know that our government is not looking after the national parks that we already have – the some 4 million hectares of them. It is not looking after them. It is shutting down services, it is cutting weed control, it is closing tracks and it is cutting park rangers. It has got this the wrong way around. Let us protect our parks and our natural flora and fauna and continue access.

Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (18:05): Can I first acknowledge Ms Lovell and all the petitioners. While my remarks this evening will highlight why I do not support your cause, and I suspect you will not necessarily agree with everything I have to say, as part of a healthy democracy I support people being able to petition the Parliament on issues that matter to them.

National parks are great. It is not just the Greens who think that; Victorians overwhelmingly love our national parks. We know that because RedBridge polling last year found 80 per cent of the state wants more of them. It is easy to see why Victorians want to protect native forests. They are the places we can go with our families to get out in nature for bushwalking, picnics, photography, camping and more, and I think we would all agree on that. Native forests are both the lungs and heart of this incredible continent. They protect our air and water, storing huge amounts of carbon. They provide safe haven for our beautiful diminishing wildlife amidst Victoria’s biodiversity crisis, including the more than 2000 species on the threatened list. National parks also protect irreplaceable country for First Nations people. Destruction of country is one of the many lasting shames of colonisation in Victoria. Forests and woodlands once covered over 90 per cent of this incredible state before the British stole it. Colonisers went on to destroy more than half of that – over 14 million hectares of precious native forests gone. What little remains must be protected as an urgent priority for the sake of both people and the planet.

Yet under this government, under Premier Jacinta Allan, Victorian Labor has gone to, frankly, insulting lengths to dismantle what little protections were promised under Dan Andrews. Premier Allan is happy to sacrifice nature and go against the overwhelming views of Victorians, perhaps because she is worried that a small group of people might jump ship to other parties. First, we saw Premier Allan backflip on duck hunting. Then the Premier ditched the plan to investigate new parks across Victoria’s dwindling forests after the end of native forest logging. In 2023 a new panel called the Great Outdoors Taskforce was appointed to examine Victoria’s remaining native forests and recommended new areas for national parks. But in 2024, faced with a fear campaign from the coalition, Labor revoked that remit entirely. Just a few weeks ago Labor rejected the decades-long plan for a great forest national park in the Central Highlands. The Minister for Environment even promised to let deer hunters into Victoria’s existing national parks. These are more than broken promises; this is Labor letting the shooting lobby dictate Victoria’s environment policy.

Of course we have the long-promised, long-delayed national parks in the central west that environmentalists campaigned to protect for decades. In 2021 Labor finally announced plans to legislate three separate parks, the Wombat–Lerderderg, Mount Buangor and Pyrenees national parks, and deliver formal protections for the Cobaw conservation park, Wellsford forest and other reserves. Labor has since sat on that pledge for years, promising the parks and reserves would come and then never following through. In October 2024 the environment minister even promised that legislation for the first two parks would come later in 2024. But it is 2025, and Labor still has not followed through. Why? Why is Labor so scared to act when the overwhelming majority of Victorians and this Parliament are on their side? I urge the government not to succumb to this campaign and to have the courage to follow through on their promises.

Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria) (18:08): I rise to also speak on this petition and to thank the petitioners for petitioning the Parliament. Like Dr Mansfield, I support their right to do so. But today I will also be speaking against what this petition calls for and in support of the creation of the Wombat–Lerderderg and Mount Buangor national parks, because, sadly, this petition includes several pieces of misinformation that have been continuously promoted by members of this place, as well as the shooting and outdoor recreation lobby. To make matters worse, it seems to be that this is the very lobby that is guiding the government’s decisions on conservation and land management.

I would like to start by clearing up some of those common misconceptions and concerns shared by the petitioners. Formalising the protection of these forests is not the same as locking them up. The vast majority of outdoor recreational activities will still be allowed, including bushwalking, camping, fishing, four-wheel driving and trail and mountain biking. Victoria’s national parks are a major economic asset, welcoming millions of visitors each and every year. Across Victoria our national parks contribute over $2 billion to the state economy and provide tens of thousands of tourism and nature-based jobs. An independent economic assessment showed that investing the very bare minimum in the creation of these three new parks would double the economic return on investment. It has been six years since the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council recommended a major expansion of national and regional parks in central Victoria and four years since the government announced they would create three new national parks. This is the longest it has ever taken any state government to gazette a new park in 25 years.

These areas contain over 360 native plants and 180 native animals. There are at least 25 rare, vulnerable or threatened plant species and 15 threatened animals. Victoria is facing an extinction crisis. Our endangered species do not have the time to wait for Labor to get over its political trepidation. The delay in creating these new parks is just one in an ever-growing list of this government’s failures and broken promises when it comes to protecting our precious forests and the animals that call them home. Just recently we saw the Minister for Environment declare that there would be no great forest national park. But how did we hear about this? It was not in a media release. It was not in a report from the eminent panel for community engagement, which is supposed to be considering state forests in the Central Highlands. No, the announcement was shared with parts of the shooting lobby at a private function. And this is exactly what we warned the government would happen if they caved to the Electrical Trades Union with their unreasonable demands when it came to duck shooting. We said it was the thin end of the wedge. Labor has not missed an opportunity to demonstrate their utter indifference towards both protecting our natural environment and, frankly, adhering to the procedures of this place.

Despite the abundance of evidence supporting the protection of these forests, the shooting lobby, alongside some members of this place, have tried to turn this issue into yet another culture war. Communities in the central west and throughout my electorate have been advocating for the protection of these forests for decades. And in 2021 they were given a promise that these forests would finally be protected. Last year we were told the legislation was imminent, and yet here we are, still waiting. They need to keep their word. I urge the government: no more delays, no more excuses, introduce the legislation and finally deliver these national parks.

Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (18:12): I am pleased to rise in support of this petition, and I do thank Wendy Lovell for tabling this petition, which had nearly 12,000 signatures. I have spoken previously about the importance of our state forests. I know Melina Bath, my Nationals colleague, tabled a petition as well. That was a historic petition – the largest we have ever seen in the Legislative Council – and it was very clear in its message to this government: no new national parks. Combined, when you consider the number of people that have signed these petitions, it is about enough to fill the Marvel Stadium. I think that is certainly worth listening to.

Our state forests are so important. I know people that love going through our state forests for bushwalking, horseriding, trail bike riding, four-wheel driving, hunting, firewood collection, prospecting or even just walking their dog. Just recently I was talking with a lady who goes camping, and she loves to take her campervan out. She takes her dog with her and loves to be able to camp with her dog. That is the importance, too, of tourism in the small regional towns that surround these state forests – they look for places where they can go and take their dog and enjoy the great outdoors. But there are many restrictions that exist in national parks. We have heard before the government say, ‘Oh, no, we won’t padlock them.’ But we have seen what has happened in places like Mount Arapiles with the impact of the closure of world-class climbing facilities there and the impact on the town of Natimuk. We know that after that incident, the government did initiate a review of Parks Victoria. That is what we see, a repeating pattern under this government: when there is a major issue and a bit of a political backlash, they like to do a review. We saw that with the CFMEU. We have seen that with the reforms that they made to the bail laws. We have seen that as well with Helen Silver’s review of the public sector with the state debt spiralling out of control, looking to make further cuts to staff there, and we have seen it this week. We have been debating it today as well about the childcare safety regulations and a review.

This petition is here because this has been a topic of discussion for some time. I think it is important for this state government to remember that they are a government for the people of Victoria, and the people have made it very clear that they want to retain access to our public parks. We do not want to see them locked up. We do not want to see people having to use a set of keys to get into public land. But it is hard for the public to be heard under this government. We have seen protests on the steps of Parliament today. I do want to thank the nearly 12,000 people that have signed this petition, because we are listening to you.

David LIMBRICK (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (18:15): I also would like to speak on this petition put forward to oppose the creation of the Wombat–Lerderderg National Park and also the Mount Buangor National Park near Beaufort. I would firstly like to congratulate all of the petitioners who signed this, in particular the organiser of this, Carly Murphy, who I met today – I am sorry to see that she has got a bad foot; I hope her foot gets better soon – and her group Victorians Against the Great Forest National Park.

Victorians have every reason to be concerned about parks access. They have seen what has happened. We have seen what has happened at Arapiles, we have seen what has happened at the Grampians, we have seen what happened with the Mallee Rally and we have seen what has happened with many other parks in Victoria. They are very right to be concerned about the construction of new national parks, and I share their concerns about this.

I think that the one thing that we need to look at here is one of the key recommendations of the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council report. One of the key justifications for the creation of this national park was around logging. Victoria no longer does native timber logging. In fact my understanding is the only thing that is happening at the moment in this park is that they are doing storm clean-up, salvaging some of the wood there. But there is no logging. Therefore I would suggest to the government that maybe they need to go back to the drawing board with VEAC on this recommendation for the creation of a new national park.

Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (18:17): I thank everyone who has contributed to the debate today. People visiting the bush for outdoor recreation play an important role in stimulating rural and regional economies. We should be bringing more families to the bush to enjoy the great outdoors in Victoria. We should be encouraging traditional outdoor activities like fishing and prospecting, hiking and camping, dog walking and bike riding. But creating new national parks will actually drive bush users away from these areas and hurt the local economy. Ms Ermacora said that we are in furious agreement that Victorians want access to public land and we should not be locking it up, so it disappoints me that she does support locking it up as a national park. It disappoints me that Ms Purcell, who represents this area in the Parliament, also supports this, because it is certainly not what her constituents want.

Jacinta Allan has sold the people of Victoria a lie. The Premier promised that public forests and parks in our state would not be locked up, but all the evidence says that the activity in new national parks will be continually restricted until the Labor government has for all intents and purposes put a padlock on public land. Changing state forests into national parks will not guarantee any additional resources. In fact we know that Parks Victoria is currently a mess and the government is cutting agencies’ funding and staff. Management and protection of the park will actually be worse off because banning firewood collection and closing off tracks to four-wheel drives means that fire risks will increase. The only thing that would change is the level of restriction on the use of parks by the public and the ability of government to easily restrict this use further.

I want to thank everyone who signed this petition. I particularly want to thank Amanda Millar, who was the person who started this petition. I urge all members of the chamber to support the petition.

Motion agreed to.