PARK WATCH Article June 2026 |

A new campaign is calling time on broken promises, reveals Shannon Hurley, Nature Conservation Campaigner

Something strange is happening in Victorian politics.

On paper, governments keep talking about protecting nature. They wrote the Biodiversity 2037 policy, a roadmap to stop the decline of plants, animals and fungi. But since then, meaningful action has dwindled, and in many cases, we’ve gone backwards.

Funding is being cut. Nature protection agencies are being hollowed out. Long-promised national parks have stalled. Loopholes are allowing logging and land clearing to continue. Grasslands are being bulldozed. Fisheries officers and park rangers are disappearing. And major industrial projects push ahead without the long-term planning nature desperately needs.

Policy loopholes, funding cuts and broken promises are quietly unpicking nature protection.

A bold approach

Much of what’s happening goes under the radar. That’s why Victorians for Nature has banded together. It’s a growing alliance of nature organisations and community groups calling for stronger nature protection.

As part of this broader effort, the alliance has launched a community mobilising campaign with a bold statement: ‘Stop the F*ckery’.

Yes, the name is blunt. The directness is the point. The discomfort is exactly the mechanism we need to cut through the noise, and to reach new people. Discomfort means attention. Attention means conversations.

The name reflects a level of frustration that’s been building for years. Particularly among those who’ve spent decades working to secure protections that are now being steadily eroded. And it will cut through to reach beyond the usual voices.

Its role is simple: to document and call out the loopholes, backflips, funding cuts and broken promises undermining nature protection in Victoria – across forests, fish, fauna, funding and feral species.

The campaign website documents over 30 examples from across Victoria, with new issues added as they happen. It gives people a clear way to see what’s happening, push back, and hold decision-makers to account. The more visible that pressure becomes before the election, the harder it is to ignore.

Stop the F*ckery is one part of the wider campaign in the lead-up to the November 2026 state election. But the campaign goes beyond any one initiative.

Victorians for Nature will seek to engage people who care about nature but may not yet realise the scale of what’s unfolding. As well as those who’ve been working tirelessly for years and are ready to see meaningful change.

The stakes are high

Victoria is already the most cleared state in Australia. Thousands of plants, animals, fungi and habitats are threatened with extinction. Experts continue to warn that current laws are failing to halt declines.

The end of native forest logging should’ve marked a turning point. It was a rare opportunity to permanently protect forests and give habitats a chance to heal. Instead, loopholes remain, allowing destructive practices to continue under different guises.

At the same time, promised new parks and reserves – including Melbourne’s long-awaited grassland reserves – remain delayed while habitat continues to be destroyed.

What makes this moment particularly concerning is that the damage isn’t coming from a single headline decision. It’s happening incrementally. A staffing cut here. A shelved reform there. Scientific advisory bodies abolished. A promise quietly deferred. Another project approved without broader planning for nature..

Individually, each decision can seem technical. Together, they tell a much bigger story. Victoria’s nature protection system is being steadily weakened.

Commitments for nature

Ahead of the 2026 election, the alliance is calling for six clear commitments:

This campaign isn’t just about identifying what’s going wrong. It’s about building the momentum to fix it.

Across the state, Victorians for Nature is engaging communities in new ways. Through film screenings, local events and campaign launches in key regions, supported by a clear and accessible public campaign designed to reach far beyond the traditional audience.

The aim is simple: build a movement that’s impossible to ignore.

Because our elected leaders are the ones who can fix this. They can put nature on the priority list. And they’ll pay attention if enough of us let them know that. Especially with an election on the horizon.