State forest access
Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (09:55): In the lower house today the Labor government is going to do what it does very well all the time: it is going to divide Victorians. It is going to introduce the Parks and Public Land Legislation Amendment (Central West and Other Matters) Bill 2025. On one hand, it is going to be a great outcome for deer hunters because they will be able to hunt in the Errinundra and Snowy River national parks. They have been calling for this for years and years. But on the other hand, other bush users are going to be absolutely gutted because this government is introducing new laws that will shut up the Wombat–Lerderderg, Mount Buangor and Pyrenees state forests into national parks. That is going to exclude a whole heap of bush users and cause great division. This is unfair, and the government should have brought them in separately so that they could be voted on in this house separately and we would not be dividing bush users. Where we have national parks, you cannot do fossicking. Prospectors and miners have been advocating for the continuation of the Wombat and Pyrenees areas to be open, and horseriders, four-wheel drivers and the like. This is a divisive government. It should not be doing it this way, and I am calling the government out on it.