Since being elected in 2014, the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party has unlocked close to one million hectares of Victorian public land for access and recreation. This is what our core principle — “Well-managed land open to the public” — means in practice. We have never voted for the creation of more national parks, and we will continue fighting to ensure Victoria’s public land is managed for the benefit of the people who own it.

 

Public land management cannot be dictated by a “lock it up and leave it” mentality. Hunters, campers, four-wheel drivers, bushwalkers, prospectors, firewood collectors, fishers and other outdoor recreationists deserve safe, practical and affordable access to public land. We will continue to fight against unnecessary closures, locked gates and restrictions that progressively shut Victorians out of their own public estate.

 

Victoria faces an ever-increasing threat from bushfires, while poorly planned energy infrastructure, commercial interests and inadequate land management place further pressure on our public land. The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party will always defend Victoria’s public land and fight for active management, responsible access and a public estate that remains open to the people who own it.

 

• Manage the bushfire preparedness of our public land in-line with the findings of the 2009 Black Saturday Bushfires Royal Commission.

• Repeal the classification of National Parks Like Wombat-Lerdederg, Barmah, Buangor and the Pyrenees

• Fight against any more national parks.

• Protect crown land river frontage access

• Return seasonal cattle grazing in alpine areas using new E-collar technology

• Expand seasonal residential firewood collection into National or State Parks where appropriate.

• Ensure public land managers use ground based recreational shooters as the first line of defense in managing invasive species, with helicopter culls as the last resort.

• Open further state and national parks to recreational deer hunting where appropriate

• Expand the availability of appropriate creeks and rivers for recreational prospecting.