Extract from Hansard - the National Parks Bill (1995)

1 June, 1995.

This legislative initiative will make a major contribution to Victoria's world-class parks system and has the following main objects:

1. To create the Yarra Ranges National Park and the Enfield and Mount Granya State Parks, and to expand Kinglake National Park;
2. To provide for the protection and management of the water supply catchment areas and their water resources within the Yarra Ranges and Kinglake national parks;
3. To add more than 2200 hectares to 10 other national parks, 8 state parks and 3 other parks and to excise small areas from 4 parks; and
4. To increase the penalty provisions and make several other amendments to the National Parks Act. 

The Bill reflects the government's commitment to protecting and enhancing Victoria's parks system. This is a system that has been established over many years, but mostly since the Land Conservation Council (LCC) was created in 1970 by the then Liberal government.

The three new parks being created by the Bill result directly from LCC studies, most notably the recently completed Melbourne Area District 2 Review which included the Central Highlands east of Melbourne.

Establishing additional park areas, particularly in the Central Highlands, also reflects the government's ongoing commitment to implementing the national forest policy, in particular with respect to establishing a comprehensive, adequate and representative network of dedicated and secure reserves for forests. At the same time, the government is committed to maintaining a sustainable timber industry in the state forests of the Central Highlands, and this bill provides the certainty of land use that flows from the LCC process.

The government is also committed to the skiing industry at Lake Mountain and has accepted the LCC recommendations for that area. These include retaining the existing and proposed commercial facilities and car parks, access road and biathlon trail in the alpine resort and providing for the Alpine Resorts Commission to undertake development and management of cross-country ski trails in a designated zone of the Yarra Ranges National Park in accordance with an agreed plan.

MAJOR NEW NATIONAL PARK

The Yarra Ranges National Park will include the major water supply catchments of Maroondah, O'Shanassy and Upper Yarra, parts of the linking Cement Creek, Acheron River and Armstrong Creek catchments, the slopes of Mount Donna Buang, most of Lake Mountain and part of the Upper Taggerty River catchment.

The park is based largely on the Ash Ranges National Park proposed by the LCC with the addition of the Maroondah and Upper Yarra reservoir areas and Dom Dom Saddle. The government acknowledges the proposal for a larger park submitted by some groups, and also the concerns of the timber and skiing industries about that proposal. However, it recognises that the LCC has taken into account the competing demands for the resources in the Central Highlands and believes that the independent and respected LCC process has established an appropriate balance between those demands.

By creating this outstanding national park we will achieve several very significant goals:

• the park will permanently protect some of Victoria's finest mountain ash forests in a great national park and will include the vast majority of old growth ash forests in the Central Highlands.
• it will also protect some of the best stands of cool temperate rainforest in Victoria, the significant subalpine environment of Lake Mountain and diverse forest fauna, including one of the state's faunal emblems - the Leadbeater's possum;
• it will permanently protect three of Melbourne's major water supply catchments; and
• it will complement and enhance the excellent tourism opportunities of the Yarra Valley and nearby towns, particularly Warburton, Healesville and Marysville.

The addition of the Wallaby Creek catchment to Kinglake National Park will also protect very high conservation values and another of Melbourne's water supply catchments.

The water supply catchments to be included in the Yarra Ranges and Kinglake National Parks have outstanding conservation and water resource values. This is largely due to the protection which Melbourne Water Corporation and its predecessors have given the catchments since the late-1800s to the early-1900s. The change in land status to national park, however, recognises the major contribution which those areas can make to the state's parks and reserves system and the permanent protection which they will enjoy under the National Parks Act.

In changing the land status of the catchments, the government is very mindful of the need to protect and manage appropriately their precious water resources, and to enable Melbourne Water to continue to carry out its business obligations to deliver high-quality water to the metropolis of Melbourne - and I confirm that Melbourne Water will not have a fee imposed on it for the water derived from the parks.

The Bill achieves this in the following ways:

1. the protection of the catchments and their water resources, including the maintenance of water quality, is to be the paramount consideration of the director and anyone else exercising powers and carrying out duties with respect to the catchments;
2. the director will have the responsibility to ensure that the catchments and their water resources are protected and he or she will have the power to do anything to ensure that this occurs;
3. within the catchment areas, Melbourne Water will have the responsibility for determining the policy necessary to protect the catchments and their water resources for water supply purposes, including matters relating to human activity;
4. the director will be required to reasonably consult with Melbourne Water prior to undertaking any activity in the catchments. This requirement is considered to have been complied with if the director has entered into an agreement with Melbourne Water;
5. Melbourne Water will be able to access, control and manage any existing structures and installations in the catchments, or which it may install in the future. This will provide an explicit basis for Melbourne Water to record such items in its accounts; and
6. the bill will enable the director to enter into an agreement with Melbourne Water for the cooperative management of the catchment areas and, through that agreement, to delegate any of his or her duties, functions and powers to Melbourne Water. The agreement will also specify those functions and powers of Melbourne Water that it may perform in the catchments. The agreement will ensure that both parties' interests in the catchments are protected, and that their activities are coordinated within the overriding context of protecting the catchments and their water resources.

In the interests of protecting water quality, and in accordance with the government's water resources policy, visitors will generally continue to be excluded from the closed catchments within the park. Nevertheless, Yarra Ranges National Park as a whole will be a significant tourism asset to Melbourne and the Central Highlands region.

There are many significant features in the park outside the closed catchments which are easily accessible and which will enable visitors to experience the scenic tall mountain forests, fern gullies and rainforests which are characteristic of the park.

These features include the state's tallest known tree at Cambarville, the rainforests and waterfalls of the Taggerty River and the panoramic views from Mount Donna Buang -- Melbourne's closest snow-play area -- as well as the subalpine environment and cross-country ski trails of Lake Mountain.

The park also contains popular tourist routes and scenic drives, such as the Maroondah Highway winding through the mountain ash forests of the Black Spur and the Ben Cairn Road between Healesville and Warburton with views of the Yarra Valley below. There are also several sites of cultural interest in the park.

The range of visitor attractions, the potential for nature-based tourism in a diversity of environments, the area's national park status and the park's proximity to Melbourne will be significant features in attracting overseas and other visitors.

In addition, the park will complement the wide range of other visitor attractions in the region, including the Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary, the wineries of the Yarra Valley, the Toolangi Forest Discovery Centre, and the nearby towns of Healesville, Marysville and Warburton.

The government is committed to enhancing the enjoyment of visitors to the park. There are several existing picnic areas and walking tracks in the parks, and additional or improved facilities will be provided at several key localities such as Mount Donna Buang and Dom Dom Saddle.

OTHER NEW PARKS

In addition to the new national park areas in the Central Highlands, the Bill also creates two new state parks:

• Enfield, south of Ballarat, has recently been burnt by a major wildfire but, when regenerated, will again become a popular venue for picnicking, walking, camping and nature study. Fossicking will be provided for in accordance with LCC recommendations.
• Mount Granya State Park, in the Upper Murray area north-east of Tallangatta, contains prominent granite landscapes and provides opportunities for activities such as picnicking, camping and touring close to Albury-Wodonga.

As a result of several land purchases or donations - some involving the Victorian Conservation Trust - significant areas are being added to several existing parks, including Otway, Melba Gully and Warby Ranges.

Valuable additions to parks close to Melbourne include a major part of the link between Churchill and Lysterfield parks, and 200 hectares to Werribee Gorge State Park.

A notable addition to Angahook-Lorne State Park will be part of the Anglesea heathlands known as O'Donohue's land. These heathlands have very high conservation values and are a prominent feature of the coastal landscape along the increasingly famous Great Ocean Road. The purchase of this area is due to the efforts of the Great Ocean Road Committee and to the funding provided by the state and commonwealth governments to the Victorian Conservation Trust. The bill provides for the area's inclusion in the park when the purchase is finalised and the title is transferred to the Crown.

The Bill also changes the name of Point Nepean National Park to Mornington Peninsula National Park to reflect the broader extent of that popular park. South Channel Fort is also being added to the park. The renaming of Gellibrand Hill Park as Woodlands Historic Park recognises its important historic character.

CONCLUSION

As we approach the 21st century, our awareness of the need to conserve our natural environment has never been greater.

I am confident that the protection which this bill will give various areas across the state, but particularly in the Central Highlands, will significantly enhance Victoria's great parks system and be of lasting value to this and future generations.