Joint Statement - Labor must stop plan to lock Victorians out of parks

Joint Statement – Labor must stop plan to lock Victorians out of parks

James Newbury, Shadow Minister for Planning

John Pesutto, Leader of the Opposition

Wayne Farnham, Member for Narracan

Monday 27 May 2024

The Victorian Liberals and Nationals call on the Allan Labor Government to reject a proposal to lock Victorians out of public land through the creation of a largescale National Park.

In December last year, the Government’s Victorian Environmental Assessment Council recommended the Government should create one national park that linked the Yarra Ranges, Kinglake, Lake Eildon and Baw Baw National Parks and the Bunyip, Cathedral Range and Moondarra State Parks.

The use of national parks is greatly restricted and community activities would be highly regulated and, in most cases, banned. Adoption of the proposal would stop Victorians from accessing the parks they love and care for now and into the future.

Hundreds of people from the West Gippsland community converged in Drouin yesterday at a ‘Rally For the Bush’, in opposition of the Allan Labor Government’s plan to lock up the parkland from community use.

Leader of the Opposition, John Pesutto, said: “We will only protect our natural environment if we teach our children responsible use, not impose bans which lock assets which are owned by all Victorians away from the community.”

Shadow Minister for Environment and Climate Change, James Newbury, said: “Victoria’s natural environment is a unique part our State’s identity, and every Victorian expects that our environment is preserved. Preservation does not mean imposing large scale bans stopping Victorians from accessing their parks.”

Member for Narracan, Wayne Farnham, said: “Communities across my electorate are dependent on tourism for their livelihoods. If the public cannot access forests then regional communities will suffer.

“It’s time the Allan Labor Government started allowing regional communities to thrive rather than hampering their prosperity through more red tape.”

James Newbury, Shadow Minister for Planning

John Pesutto, Leader of the Opposition

Wayne Farnham, Member for Narracan