Allan Government delays: farmers, fishers and hunters left in limbo

Farmers, hunters and anglers have been left facing years of uncertainty, as the Allan Government dithers on delivering new animal welfare laws and national parks.

Premier Jacinta Allan and her ministers have left Victorians hanging on the creation of new national parks such as the Wombat Forest (pictured), animal welfare laws, farmer access to virtual fencing and a raft of other critical decisions.

Allan Government dithering has left farmers, hunters, fishers and all Victorians who enjoy the great outdoors facing years of uncertainty on everything from the impact of new animal welfare laws to being locked out of the state’s forests.

In 2021, the government announced it would convert 44,000ha of Victoria’s Central West forests into three new national parks – Pyrenees, Wombat-Lerderderg and Mount Buangor, with Premier Jacinta Allan finally announcing last year that legislation would be tabled in parliament by November to create the latter two parks.

Yet five months later nothing has been tabled in parliament, with a government spokeswoman now stating the legislation to create all “three new national parks will be introduced this year”.

The Government has also delayed decisions on converting 300,000ha of the Central Highlands’ state forests into a new Great Forest National Park, despite receiving its Eminent Panel for Community Engagement’s report on the region last October.

Victorians Against the Great Forest National Parks founder Carly Murphy, who has 23,200 members, said “they’ve just left us all hanging”, not knowing if the public’s right to freely camp and light cooking fires in state forests would come to an end, with visitors corralled into designated sites in new national parks and tracks closed.

“They’re (the government) in a stalemate, because they believed green groups (advocating for the park) were speaking for the majority, when the majority (unions, outdoor and bush user groups) have come out and said ‘we don’t’.”

Outdoor recreation groups say “they’ve just left us all hanging”, not knowing if the public’s right to freely camp and light cooking fires in state forests will come to an end.

Beyond the forests, farmers face just as much uncertainty.

In 2017, then Premier Daniel Andrews promised animal welfare lobbyists Labor would introduce new animal welfare laws by 2019, which would “recognise the sentience of animals, reflecting the strong evidence that exists showing animals fear and feel pain”.

But after more than seven years the government is yet to table any new animal welfare legislation in parliament, despite endless rounds of consultation.

An exposure draft of a new Animal Care and Protection Bill was put out for public consultation in December 2023, which set off alarm bells among farmers given it introduced legally binding minimum care requirements for animals for the first time, new offences and a licensing regime for some key animal husbandry practices.

In November last year Agriculture Minister Ros Spence said the final bill would be tabled “as soon as possible in 2025”, but this week her office stated it would be “later this year”.

Meanwhile the government has delayed Victorian dairy and beef producers’ access to revolutionary virtual fencing technology, despite it being approved and commercialised in New Zealand, as well as adopted in Queensland, the Northern Territory and Tasmania.

The technology developed by CSIRO in 2005 and commercialised by Kiwi tech company Halter in 2017, uses sound, vibration and mild electric pulses to teach cattle to avoid virtual fences, which farmers can move metre by metre using an app on their mobile phones.

But rather than making a decision to adopt the technology in Victoria, Minister Spence instead announced a 12-month trial at Agriculture Victoria’s Ellinbank research farm.

Victoria has delayed adopting virtual fencing technology that has been commercialised and adopted in New Zealand, Queensland, the Northern Territory and Tasmania.

VFF vice-president and livestock producer Peter Star said “it’s something that’s been approved and works in other states and jurisdictions – so are Victorian cattle somehow different to those in Queensland, Tassie and New Zealand?”.

Ms Spence’s office failed to answer questions on the need for a trial, simply stating it was conducting research to “implement the best technologies”.

Mr Star said the Allan Government had also created enormous uncertainty for Victorian sheep producers with its on-again, off-again wild dog policies, with producers left not knowing whether control measures would come to an end for most of last year.

He said even the efforts of Victoria’s 20-odd dog controllers were being undermined, as the government directed them into controlling feral pests, such as pigs, deer and goats.

Farmers faced most of last year not knowing if wild dog control would continue across Eastern Victoria, after it came to an end in the state’s northwest. Picture: Doug Read

A $95 million government cut to Parks Victoria’s budget has also exacerbated the risk of poorly controlled weed and pest populations spilling out of parks onto neighbouring farmers’ land.

As The Weekly Times first reported last October Parks Victoria has almost halved the 111 services it carries out across 4.12 million hectares of public land, cutting rabbit and fox control, rubbish collection and educational programs.

Environment Minister Steve Dimopoulos responded to media coverage of the cuts by ordering “a comprehensive review of Parks Victoria” in November last year, which was due to be completed last month, leaving future of staff and the services they deliver in limbo.

The Government has even thrown a spanner in the works of Dairy Food Safety Victoria, announcing a review last December into merging it with PrimeSafe, Agriculture Victoria and some Department of Health functions.

United Dairyfarmers of Victoria president Bernie Free said the government had instigated the review to cut red tape. But given DFSV is efficient and cost the government nothing he said the government should “bugger off and find something else where red tape is a problem”.

Ms Spence’s office said “we are engaging with stakeholders to gather valuable perspectives of the dairy industry and ensure they are considered in implementing consolidation of Victoria’s food safety regulators”.

Mr Dimopoulos has also left recreational fishers hanging, after signing off on cutting the number of fisheries enforcement officers from 69 positions to 38 late last year, as part of budget savings measures.

However when asked again earlier this month Mr Dimopoulos’ office said “the Victorian Fisheries Authority is consulting with employees and the union on workforce changes, and no decisions have been made.”

Anglers have been left in limbo after being told fisheries enforcement officers positions would be cut in half, but the government denying a decision had been made. Picture: Mitch Bear

VRFish chief executive Ben Scullin said three years ago former Premier Daniel Andrews’ motto was ‘getting things done’, now it’s just about spin.

Victorian Farmers Federation president Brett Hosking said “a lot of the anxiety we’re seeing in rural areas comes from uncertainty”.

“It’s not just how these regulations affect our businesses, but our communities, where we and our families live.”.

Originally published as Allan Government delays: farmers, fishers and hunters left in limbo