Premier pushes more parks: Cuts Parks Vic funding by $95m

Parks Victoria is struggling to manage millions of hectares of land but that didn’t stop the Victorian Government from cutting its funding by $95 million.

Victorian Environment Minister Steve Dimopoulos keeps dodging questions on the funding crisis and the $95 million his government stripped from Parks Victoria.

Parks Victoria’s funding has been slashed by $95 million in one year, forcing the public land manager to cut staff and services.

It comes as Premier Jacinta Allan prepares to introduce legislation to parliament this month that adds another 440,000ha of the Wombat and Lederderg state forests to the 4.12 million hectares Parks Victoria is already struggling to manage.

Opposition environment spokesman James Newbury said the public knew the Labor government was already neglecting the state’s national parks.

“These massive cuts will make things go from bad to worse, at time when the government wants to lock up more parks and lock out Victorians,” he said.

Parks Victoria’s latest annual report, tabled last week, shows its total government funding and income plummeted from $433m in 2022-23 to just $338m in 2023-24.

Not only has the government slashed Parks Victoria’s direct funding by $61.3m, but it also cut its share of the parks charges on water bills by $20m.

Victorian Environment Minister Steve Dimopoulos has been dodging questions on the cuts for the past fortnight, handballing queries to Parks Victoria’s executive team, who have simply stated they are continuing “to provide world-class camping facilities, tours and conservation programs across Victoria”.

He once again failed to respond this week, when asked why the government had cut Parks Victoria funding by $95.4m, when so many park assets remain closed and the Premier had committed to expanding the parks estate.

The Community and Public Sector Union has warned Parks Victoria urgently needs ongoing funding and a budget boost to be able to keep parks safe, clean and open.

The Weekly Times has also seen documents showing Parks Victoria has been forced to cut 51 services, from feral pest control to its young rangers program.

A copy of Parks Victoria’s confidential Operations Service Catalogue shows it has cut the number of “must do” services to 60, with the remaining 51 classified as “could do if resources permit”, “only do if tied funded” or “stop/pause”.

One staff member wrote to The Weekly Times stating: “The current (PV) board, CEO and executive directors have implemented a targeted redundancy process that is removing thousands of years of combined operating experience which impacts the safety of the Victorian public.

“The target redundancy is being implemented by stealth with each division undertaking its own review a couple of months after one another to avoid scrutiny.”