Protect & Restore Nature

Protect & Restore Nature

A healthy environment isn't just a nice-to-have.

Clean air, fresh water, functioning ecosystems - these are the foundations of our health, our food, our economy, our culture. For First Nations peoples, Country is not a backdrop to life. It is life.

But Labor is treating nature and wildlife as something to be pillaged and destroyed for short-term profit.

Funding for environmental protection in Victoria is at an historic low. Species are declining. Habitat is shrinking. Invasive species are spreading. Meanwhile, the department managing our environment too often acts in the interests of industry, not nature.

We need a fundamental shift – not tinkering at the edges – but a genuine re-ordering of how our government values and invests in nature. That’s what the Greens will deliver.

Explore our plan to Protect & Restore Nature

Fund nature properly and create a green workforce to restore Country

Labor’s funding cuts to environmental protection have been devastating.

The latest State of the Environment Report shows all of Victoria’s biodiversity indicators are poor or declining – while Labor cuts environmental funding, slashes fisheries officers’ jobs, gives in to the gun and hunting lobby at every turn, and refuses to declare new national parks to protect Victoria’s ancient forests.

The Greens will reverse Labor’s cuts to nature protection and fund First Nations-led work protecting and restoring Country.

We will deliver secure, long-term jobs for environmental protection and restoration - with long-term investment that survives budget cycles. 

We'll also address immediate threats to our threatened species – we’ll reclassify feral deer as a pest, instead of a protected species, and invest in controlling invasive species like rabbits, feral cats, and fire ants, which cause enormous damage to native wildlife, with the most humane and scientifically-proven methods available.

Protect native forests and close Labor’s loopholes that allow under-the-radar logging 

In 2004, after decades-long campaigns by community activists and the Greens, Labor announced they would end native forest logging.

But they left the back door open by allowing some massive loopholes in the laws. This means many of Victoria’s forests continue to be logged for profit, our ancient forests still have no permanent protection, and Labor has allowed Victorian taxpayer money to be used to destroy precious ancient native forests in Tasmania.

The Greens will close Labor’s logging loopholes and protect our forests for good. We will:

  • Repeal laws that would enable future governments to bring back native logging on public land - future-proofing Victoria’s ban on commercial logging
  • Create permanent legal protections for forests in the Central Highlands and East Gippsland, in consultation with Traditional Owners.
  • Make it illegal for mills in Victoria to process native forest timber from anywhere in Australia - including old forests in Tasmania.
  • Ban logging in native forests on private land (not including sustainable plantations)
  • Create real accountability by empowering the Environment Protection Authority and Office of the Conservation Regulator to investigate Forest Fire Management Victoria, so fire management isn’t used as an excuse for logging.
Fix Victoria's wildlife laws

Victoria's wildlife laws are 50 years old and badly out of date. Labor promised to fix them, then quietly abandoned those plans.

The Greens want to change that. We will:

  • Ban duck shooting
  • Overhaul our wildlife laws and fix the permit system that allows massive numbers of native animals to be killed
  • Make sure threatened species don't just get listed - they get a real plan to help them recover.
  • Redirect the funding which currently goes to promoting recreational hunting to protecting species and habitat instead.
Green Our Cities

Trees, parks, wetlands, and green corridors in our cities and suburbs make our lives better. They reduce heat, improve mental health, manage stormwater, and support biodiversity.

Labor's planning system, however, treats trees and habitat as an obstacle to development.

The Greens will rewrite the planning rules, returning the requirement that planners need to take into account the environmental impacts of a development, and with a target of 40% tree canopy coverage in urban areas.

We will also support urban rewilding and greening initiatives that reconnect city residents with nature,  through planting programs in parks, nature strips, along creeks and in backyards.

Restructure the environment department to put nature and First Nations knowledge first

The Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action often puts the interests of industry on equal (or greater) footing with environmental protection.

The Greens will restructure it so that nature protection and First Nations knowledge is the primary mandate, not giving corporations what they want to make more profit.

Stop destructive fossil fuel and mining projects

The Greens will block all new fossil fuel projects in Victoria and investigate what can be done to halt the expansion of the Ballarat and Fosterville Gold Mines, which have serious impacts on the environmental and local communities.

We will also block the revival of the Fingerboards Mineral Sands Project – which has been rejected before and should not be resurrected.