What nature needs this election

Funding cuts have left national parks and other protected areas without what they need to thrive. Real funding means giving threatened wildlife like Powerful Owls, Platypuses and Brush-tailed Phascogales a chance to recover, bringing invasive species under control and helping habitats and wildlife flourish again.

We're calling for:

• National parks and protected areas to be funded to at least 1 per cent of the state budget.
• Park management guided by the best available scientific evidence and Traditional Owner knowledge of Country.
• Fully funded protected areas to make sure they’re managed by properly resourced, skilled professionals, including First Nations managers.
• Properly funding, strengthening and evolution of Traditional Owner management of national parks and other public lands to create genuine partnerships.

Parks need people. Frontline fisheries officers and park rangers have been cut, even as poaching, firewood theft, illegal land clearing and illegal fishing continue unchecked. These are the guardians who look after our parks and reserves day to day. Without them, our special places are left exposed.

We're calling for:

• Axed staff in Parks Victoria, the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action and the Victorian Fisheries Authority to be reinstated and rebuilding of specialist capacity in compliance, biodiversity, heritage, recreation management and park planning.
• A standalone Environment Minister to control all aspects of the portfolio including public land management, without conflicting responsibilities.
• National parks managed for the primary purpose of conservation and quiet enjoyment of nature.
• The decision to introduce recreational shooting into Snowy River and Errinundra national parks to be reversed and management aligned with the endorsed Greater Alpine National Parks Management Plan.

Native forest logging officially ended on 1 January 2024, but loopholes mean logging is still damaging forests across Victoria and putting wildlife at risk.

We're calling for:

• A commitment to maintain the ban on native forest logging.
• A legislative ban on commercial native forest logging on public land.
• Loopholes that allow native forest logging on private land to be closed.
• A standalone regulator to oversee Forest Fire Management Victoria’s fire prevention and logging-like activities and clear enforceable standards to protected wildlife and habitats, including critical habitat trees.

Victoria's Central Highlands are home to some of the tallest trees on Earth and threatened wildlife like Greater Gliders and Leadbeater’s Possums. And they need looking after.

We're calling for:

• A Great Forest National Park or significantly expanded and linked existing Central Highlands parks, including linking Yarra Ranges, Baw Baw, Kinglake and Lake Eildon national parks and Cathedral Ranges, Bunyip and Moondarra state parks.
• Expanded and linked East Gippsland national parks, including Alpine, Coopracambra, Croajingolong, Errinundra and Snowy River national parks.
• Support for Emerald Link, a community-led conservation initiative for East Gippsland.
• Eastern Victoria’s forests to be assessed and nominated for UNESCO World Heritage listing.
• An independent statewide assessment into gaps in the protected area estate across land and sea.

Grasslands in Victoria are spectacular habitats home to unique wildlife like Victorian Grassland Earless Dragons, Spiny Rice Flowers, Matted Flax-lillies and Striped Legless Lizards. Of the grasslands that once covered the Victorian Volcanic Plain, less than 0.5% remain. We must protect what’s left. Melbourne's Western Grassland Reserve and Grassy Eucalypt Woodland protected areas were promised as part of the Melbourne Strategic Assessment. Years on, they’re still waiting for protection.

We're calling for:

• Melbourne’s Grasslands Reserves to be created as outlined in the Melbourne Strategic Assessment (MSA) including the Western Grassland Reserve and Grassy Eucalypt Woodland reserves.
• Improved governance and oversight of the MSA program including significantly increased penalties for illegal clearing.
• Better protection for all grassland ecosystems across Victoria.
• A statewide assessment of grassland ecosystems, their extent, condition and recommendations about ongoing management and protection.
• Public and private fire managers (Forest Fire Management Victoria, Parks Victoria, Country Fire Authority and landholders) to be equipped with appropriate ecological support to expand ecological burning of key grasslands.

Only 5 per cent of Victoria’s oceans are protected marine national parks and sanctuaries, despite being home to incredible marine life. Climate change, fishing and disease are putting that wildlife under growing pressure. At the same time, the number of frontline fisheries officers has been cut by almost half, leaving fewer people to protect marine life from illegal fishing.

We’re calling for:

• Sacked fisheries officers to be reinstated, to safeguard marine national parks and prevent illegal fishing.
• Jawbone Marine Sanctuary to be extended to include protection for ‘The Crystals’ at Williamstown.
• An independent statewide investigation and assessment of gaps in the marine protected area network.

Feral deer are chewing and trampling their way through habitats. Feral cats are killing countless native animals. And invasive weeds are running rampant. Our habitats and wildlife need protecting from these invaders.

We're calling for:

• The Victorian Deer Control Strategy to be fully funded and implemented.
• Feral deer to stop being listed as protected under the Wildlife Act 1975 (Vic).
• Feral deer to be eradicated in western Victoria.
• Restored funding and frontline capacity to tackle invasive species across the state.
• Broad use of Felixer traps for feral cat control to be allowed.
• Increase funding for pest plant and animal control on public land.
• Environmental weeds such as English Ivy and Gazania to be listed under the Catchment and Land Protection Act 1994 (Vic).

Western Port Bay is an incredible place, home to 65 per cent of Victoria's threatened bird species and over 1,350 marine species including Bottlenose Dolphins, Elephantfish, Eastern Curlews and Weedy Seadragons. But it has no overarching plan to protect it, leaving planning fragmented and oversight inconsistent, even as development and industry pressures grow.

We're calling for:

• $2–3 million to develop and implement a marine spatial plan for Western Port Bay.
• A dedicated Western Port Bay Fund (modelled on the successful Port Phillip Bay Fund) and $2 million per year to implement it.

The Victorian Environmental Assessment Council (VEAC) provided independent, science-based advice on how Victoria’s public land should be protected and managed. They shaped millions of hectares of national parks and protected areas across the state including: Grampians (Gariwerd), Alpine, Box –Iron Bark, Redgum and Marine national parks and new central west parks. But this year, they were axed.

We're calling for:

• A new Victorian Land Use Assessment and Planning Council, to make recommendations directly to Government for the uses of public land in Victoria.
• The newly created and biased ‘Land Access Panel’ to be abolished and/or the Fishing, Hunting and Outdoor Victoria Act 2026