MEDIA RELEASE 1 May 2025 |

Conservation groups welcome new leadership appointments at Parks Victoria while urging the agency must urgently refocus on protecting nature as its core business.

“This new leadership team inherits not only an organisation and a legacy, but the trust of all Victorians who expect Parks Victoria to safeguard our national parks and conservation estate for generations to come,” said Matt Ruchel, Executive Director of the Victorian National Parks Association.

“Parks Victoria guards some of our state’s most precious natural places but is expected to do this critical work with less than 0.5% of the state budget. That’s simply not enough to tackle the scale of challenges and threats, from feral pests to climate change”.

Mr Ruchel said national parks and conservation areas were created to protect nature first and foremost – not to be treated just as passive backdrops for recreation.

The leadership changes at Parks Victoria follow last November’s unexpected departure of the previous CEO and a subsequent behind-closed-doors review with no public consultation. Budget and staffing cuts followed, sparking concern in Victoria’s conservation community.

“There’s growing unease that this secretive review could undermine decades of hard-won nature protections,” Mr Ruchel warned. “We don’t create national parks not only for  picnics —they exist to help our native plants, animals, and complex habitats survive.”

Recent polling reveals that an overwhelming 80 per cent of Victorians support national parks and the creation of new protected areas. But the state government’s announcement of new leadership conspicuously omitted any mention of national parks.

“National parks and reserves are essential in our efforts to protect nature, and the Victorian public overwhelmingly wants to see more being done for nature and wildlife, including legislating new promised national parks in the central west of the state,” Mr Ruchel said.

More information:

  • Parks Victoria manages more than four million hectares of protected areas
  • National parks and reserves provide clean drinking water, climate resilience, community health, support livelihoods, as well as fulfilling international and national policy obligations.
  • Complete polling data