The push to stop the creation of any more National Parks is gathering momentum across Victoria and has the support of Gippsland East Nationals MP, Tim Bull.
“A petition launched by my colleague Melina Bath has close to 18,000 signatures and continues to attract great support as the government considers turning a number of areas of State Forest into National Parks,” he said.
“What this would do is put restrictions on a number of recreational activities like hunting, prospecting, puts a far greater restriction on camping and reduces the area available for firewood collection, restrictions on dogs, horse riding and campfires, just to name a few.
“There are simply far more oversights in National Parks compared to State Forests,” he said.
Mr Bull said a large part of his concern rested with the Taskforce the Minister had appointed to make recommendations.
“Firstly, it is chaired by ex-Labor Minister Lisa Neville and includes Labor diehard Karen Cain who oversaw the useless Latrobe Valley Authority, and Melissa Wood from the Victorian Environment Assessment Council, a group which supported the banning of activities in the Grampians and has a clear green bent.
“There is a notable absence of any major representation of bush user groups, so you can only imagine what recommendations they will come up with.
“In this state we already have a significant National Park network and let’s be honest, it has not been looked after, with weed and feral animal infestation,” he said.
“The lock it up and leave it mentality simply has not worked and we do not need to have more areas declared National Parks that further limits the areas where we can undertake our preferred recreation options.
“Let’s allow our Parks Victoria staff to focus its limited funds on looking after the existing Parks’ network, not give them a bigger area to look after and ask them to spread their already thin resources further.”
“I’ve been told in recent weeks they do not have the funds to grade roads or rebuild infrastructure and here we are, looking at pushing more areas into the Parks’ network,” Mr Bull said.
Community Advocacy Eastern Region will be hosting a forum at the Bairnsdale RSL on Sunday August 18 from 1pm-3pm, for anyone that is interested to attend.
