Adjournment
Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Children, Minister for Disability) (18:45): I move:
That the house do now adjourn.
Camping regulation
Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (18:46): (1183) My adjournment matter this evening is directed to the Premier. What seems like a brainwave inside the Premier’s office can have unintended consequences for small business people in regional communities, and it is that which I am going to speak about in my adjournment tonight. The action I seek from the Premier is to provide the house and the people of regional Victoria with the modelling that the government undertook on the impact of its free camping policy on regional caravan parks operating close to national parks, where it will apply. I would like the Premier to outline how the Allan government will support and/or compensate caravan park owners or operators facing a substantial loss of business. While the initiative may be aimed at cost-of-living pressures, it is already causing serious distress for small business operators in my Eastern Victoria electorate, and indeed I or my staff have spoken with many of them today. Prom Central Caravan Park in Foster is one such example. The campers at the Prom Central are certainly a vital part of Foster’s tourism economy, helping to stimulate cafes, local eateries, supermarkets, gift shops, the butcher and service stations, and this is comparable right across our small towns that nestle in close to national parks and now to free camping. Free camping at Tidal River campground certainly will be well adopted, I am sure, particularly right throughout that six months, but it is going to have an impact on that Foster caravan park, particularly in those off-peak travel times.
We have also got Les Heyne, who operates Marlo Ocean Views and Orbost caravan parks, and he estimates that he could lose up to 30 per cent of the occupancy of his businesses and hence 30 per cent of his profits. He said to me that people have rung his caravan parks already, saying, ‘Can you match the government offer?’ A small business can match the offer by offering free camping in their own organised caravan park. He said this is going to be on top of the insurance, which has gone up 33 per cent, and electricity – the electricity in our state, he is saying, has gone up 40 per cent in his caravan park. This is a region that has been hit by drought, COVID, shocking bushfires and the closure of the native timber industry, and it is an absolute disaster. Not only that, we have got local people in the Waratah Bay Caravan Park saying the same thing.
The Victorian Caravan Parks Association proposed to work with the government on a solution, a voucher system to be more fair and equitable, but that has not come through. We want to see the survival of our small towns, our small communities and our small caravan parks, and this government needs to help to do that.