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 funding for Parks Victoria, 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 create a $2 billion seed fund to 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 use our fund to 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 2024, 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 big 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, and new national parks and reserves, to protect forests in the Central Highlands and East Gippsland, with Traditional Owners' rights and management front and centre.
• 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, funded through our $2 billion nature fund
• 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.

Protect what's left of our grasslands

Years ago, Labor promised to purchase land on Melbourne's outskirts to establish a Western Grassland Reserve, to protect some of our most endangered ecosystems and Country deeply significant to First Nations people.

That promise remains largely unfulfilled.

The Greens will purchase the remaining land, using our $2 billion nature fund, and establish genuine First Nations led protection and restoration for what remains of these ecosystems.

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 institute a moratorium on plans for new and expanded destructive mining projects that have serious impacts on the environment and local communities, until we have strong safeguards in place for our health and environment.

For too long, Labor and Coalition governments have let mining corporations run roughshod over our communities and environment. There are a number of mining projects across Victoria which will have, and are having, a significant detrimental impact on the natural environment and on people's health - like the Ballarat and Fosterville Gold Mines, and the Fingerboards and Donald Mineral Sands Mines. We need to ensure the highest standards of environmental and community protections exist in Victoria - and that the drive for corporate profits is never put before the need for healthy environments and communities.

Read more

• The Greens plan: Protect Animals
• Explore our complete election policy platform
• How we'll pay for it