Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Lily D’Ambrosio, has today announced that Victoria’s Central West region will have 65,106 hectares of new national parks. The new national parks will be created by linking existing state forests, parks and reserves.
SSAA Victoria has been representing members’ interests in this matter since 2017 and has made several formal submissions during the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council’s (VEAC) investigation and recommendation process. Following the release of the VEAC Central West Investigation Final Report in 2019, SSAA Victoria and our colleagues at the Australian Deer Association (ADA) also raised concerns directly with the Minister and the Department about the negative impacts many of the recommendations made in the VEAC report would have on hunting opportunities.
SSAA Victoria is pleased to see that government has listened and taken the Associations’ concerns about hunting into account. We thank Minister D’Ambrosio and DELWP for hearing our concerns and delivering access outside of the recommendations in the VEAC report.
While access to significant areas has been lost to hunting, the continuation of deer hunting in some of the areas of new national parks is a positive outcome, and a much better outcome for hunters than it could have been. Today’s announcement provides confirmation of the acceptance of the Association’s position that hunting is a compatible and appropriate activity within national parks.
More detail will be provided on the arrangements for specific areas as it becomes available.
