THE State Government has ditched its disastrous free camping in national parks initiative after the program backfired.
The program was spruiked as a way to ease cost-of-living pressures, but the brutal reality was the complete opposite.
The poorly designed program financially cruelled regional small businesses and left families disappointed by a lack of camping spots.
The policy resulted in people deliberately booking multiple camping sites and then failing to show up, knowing there were no consequences.
It led to low occupancy rates in popular national park campgrounds that would normally be fully booked.
Campsites sat empty during regional Victoria’s peak tourist season, leading to the phrase ‘ghost camping’ being penned.
Practical solutions to fix the multiple problems put forward by the Liberals and Nationals were dismissed by the State Government which backed in its flawed program.
Shadow Minister for Public Land Management, Melina Bath, said the failed free camping in national parks program has quietly been scrapped and instead replaced with ‘half price’ camping fees in the state budget.
“From inception, Labor’s policy was systematically flawed and did enormous damage to small businesses and the regional economy that relies on the peak tourism season for survival.
“The Allan Government said free camping in national parks would create more Victorians holidaying in the regions, but it did the opposite.
“In a cost-of-living crisis, the program hurt regional sales and services and charged Victorian taxpayers $9 million to deliver it.
“Free camping in national parks should have been abolished when the problems were first identified, yet the Labor Allan Government refused to listen.”
