Media Releases

In Parliament today, Member for Swan Hill, Peter Walsh, lambasted the ill-informed and inadequate waste management policy adopted by Parks Victoria for the region’s red gum forests.
“Last year we had the debacle where the Minister for Environment, Gavin Jennings, refused to cover the costs of the volunteer Murrabit Advancement Association who were left with the expense of emptying bins filled with rubbish dumped by visitors to the red gum forests along the Murray River.
“This year we have Parks Victoria establishing temporary a transfer station on local Government property in neighbouring Koondrook,” Mr Walsh said.
“The ignorance of Parks Victoria in locating this transfer station in totally the opposite direction to where 95% of people camping in the forest will be travelling indicates their total lack of understanding of the forest and the people who use it.
“In the words of Gunnawarra Shire, ‘pathetic’ is the only word that can be used to describe Parks Victoria’s waste management policy.
“All proposed transfer stations must be placed on Parks Victoria owned and managed land and they need to be located in areas where campers and park users will actually find and be able to use them,” Mr Walsh said.
“I call on the Minister for Environment to instruct Parks Victoria to develop an appropriate and adequate waste management policy and not dump the responsibility on local government authorities,” he said.