Wednesday, 12 August 2026

 Aiv PUGLIELLI (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (19:48): (2692) My adjournment matter tonight is for the Minister for Environment, and the action that I seek is that the minister step in and provide more funding to Zoos Victoria so that they do not have to proceed with job cuts and a reduction in vital education programs. Zoos Victoria are proposing to cut 70 full-time equivalent positions across a range of departments, including the education teams. The education programs offered to school groups are one of the most important and financially beneficial aspects of the zoos. Zoos Victoria engages with over 150,000 students every year, from early learning to tertiary studies.

Students love coming to the zoo and learning about conservation, learning about food chains, culture, animal care, STEM skills and much more. Yet Zoos Victoria have proposed to cut at least 30 per cent of education staff across Melbourne Zoo, Werribee Open Range Zoo, Healesville Sanctuary and Kyabram Fauna Park. The most notable cut is reducing Melbourne Zoo education teams from 6.2 FTE to 3.8. These programs cannot be replicated in a classroom, and staff believe they will not be able to service the volume of student groups that currently come through the zoo nor maintain the standard of education they currently deliver. Many impacted staff have decades of experience. Victorian students are losing vital and irreplaceable knowledge. This will impact students and future zoo revenue. Zoos Victoria claims young people remain essential to our vision for the future, yet they will be directly impacted by these cuts. These cuts are ill conceived, and they must be stopped.