Hopes for a new national park dashed, to the delight of hunters

Hunters and fishers have celebrated a vow from Environment Minister Steve Dimopoulos that the Victorian government will not legislate a new national park spanning more than half a million hectares.

Conservationists had for a decade campaigned for the creation of a Great Forest National Park, which would add another 355,000 hectares of forests to triple the area of Central Highlands that is now protected.

Forests in the Central Highlands are home to the critically endangered Leadbeater’s possum.Credit: Dan Harley

The expanded national park, joining seven existing forests and state parks, would have offered critical protections for endangered and imperilled animals such as the Leadbeater’s possum.

But the proposal has been controversial among bush users’ groups, who say it would lock recreational park users out.

Gold prospectors, 4WD enthusiasts, shooters, horse riders and other groups, backed by the Electrical Trades Union (ETU), have joined forces in a growing campaign against national parks, and have strongly campaigned against the creation of a Great Forest National Park.

Sparked by a renewed push to ban duck hunting in Victoria, the ETU (Victorian branch) in 2023 brought together hunters, bush user groups, rock climbers and prospectors to form the Outdoor Recreation Advocacy Group.

Speaking at an ETU delegates’ conference this week, Dimopoulos assured attendees that the Great Forest National Park proposal was not Labor policy, and Labor would not implement it.

After the 2014 state election, Labor established a taskforce comprising representatives from environment groups, forestry unions and the logging industry to work towards a consensus on the creation of a Great Forest National Park.

After two years, the taskforce was unable to reach consensus, instead agreeing on the broad need for new parks and reserves.

Field and Game Australia welcomed the announcement, saying in a social media post that its members “appreciate the clarity on this issue”.

The revelation highlights the increasingly tense relationship between environment groups in Victoria and Dimopoulos, who is also minister for outdoor recreation.

Victorian National Parks Association campaigner Jordan Crook said his organisation hadn’t been able to secure a meeting with Dimopoulos’ office for more than a year.

“To have it announced by the shooting lobby via social media ... what type of world are we living in here? It’s just next level. What’s going on here? Is it Trump’s America or Allan’s Victoria?”

Conservationist Sarah Rees, who has campaigned for the expanded park for a decade, said Victoria’s national parks received nearly 55 million annual visits, but Dimopoulos seemed more focused on people heading into the bush to shoot, rather than those seeking restoration or refuge.

“His words echoed the far-right rhetoric of One Nation and the Freedom Party. Why? To stem a membership bleed from the union’s ranks to the political fringe,” she said.

“This is where we’re at, trading away ancient ecosystems to help a union win a branding war. That’s the strategy of our so-called environment minister.”

The Liberals and Nationals published a statement demanding the government confirm it would not go ahead with the Great Forest National Park.

“If Minister Dimopoulos is prepared to say there will be no Great Forest National Park to union delegates behind closed doors, he must be prepared to put it on the public record,” opposition spokeswoman for public land management Melina Bath said.

She pointed to a recent parliamentary petition that attracted more than 40,000 signatures as evidence Victorians did not want any new national parks.

Rees and Crook pointed to recent polling conducted by RedBridge that showed 84 per cent of Victorians said national parks were important to them and 85 per cent of 18- to 34-year-olds backed the creation of new protected areas.

While the proposal had been supported within Labor a decade ago, a government spokesman said the Great Forest National Park was not and never had been government policy.

“Recreational fishing, boating and game hunting supports tens of thousands of jobs across the state, especially in regional Victoria,” he said.

“We are creating new national parks and expanding regional parks to link existing state forests, parks and reserves to ensure our great outdoors is looked after, for every Victorian to enjoy.”

The ETU was contacted for comment.