‘Harebrained': Free camping policy scrapped after ghost campers, empty sites
Tourism operators in regional communities and avid campers are breathing a sigh of relief after the Allan government dumped a free camping initiative that they say did more harm than good.
Critics remain furious the government pushed ahead with the 'harebrained' policy, despite warnings from the outset it would negatively impact national parks, hurt local communities and put enormous pressure on cash-strapped Parks Victoria.
The initiative, announced in October by Premier Jacinta Allan and Environment Minister Steve Dimopoulos, gave campers free access to all of the state's 131 formerly paid Parks Victoria campgrounds from December 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025. They estimated it would save campers $7.3 million – with booking fees costing up to $40 a night for more popular areas.
While it resulted in an enormous spike in bookings – up 93 per cent from the year prior, according to Parks Victoria – the initiative was besieged with problems. Many campers who secured spots were no-shows, leaving some of the state's most popular campsites desolate over peak periods. Meanwhile, caravan park rates soared and rubbish dumping increased.
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Gippsland East MP Tim Bull and fellow Nationals MP Melina Bath warned against the policy from the outset and continually raised concerns to the government over its six-month lifespan.
Bull said campsites within his electorate usually full from Boxing Day through to the middle of January were, at best, two-thirds full – meaning thousands fewer campers in East Gippsland.
'It was a debacle over Christmas,' Bull said. 'I raised it again prior to Easter and said, 'we don't want our peak tourist season camp parks with 50 per cent vacancies like we had over Christmas'.
'It wasn't fixed for Easter, and it happened again ... We're still recovering from fires and COVID down here that were back to back, and we rely on our campsites being full for our local communities.'
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Nationals Leader David Littleproud demand Prime Minister Anthony Albanese rules out kowtowing on US beef imports
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14 hours ago
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Federal politics: Anthony Albanese says he won't loosen biosecurity rules to secure US tariff exemption — as it happened
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Why are the Nationals standing in the way of the best opportunity for regional communities in decades?
The Nationals are supposed to be the champions of the bush. Not just farmers, but also for the people in country towns across Australia. I grew up on a dairy farm in Gippsland. I have witnessed small country towns shrinking over my lifetime as technology has improved. Mechanisation has reduced the number of people required on farms. The opportunity to get a skilled, well-paid job in the country has reduced over time and so, instead, young people have moved to the cities. Many rural towns are dying. As the towns shrink, services are removed in a kind of a death spiral, if you will. In 2025, we are experiencing a technological revolution in electricity generation - a once in a century change to a critical service. We are moving from the old, very large baseload generation model, which has served us very well for a long time, to the new, widely distributed renewable energy generation and storage. That transition is already under way. In 2024, 40 per cent of the grid's annual electricity supply came from renewables. This changeover is now progressing at around 5 per cent per year meaning that we will be close to 90 to 100 per cent renewable energy in the next 10 years. With this change comes tremendous opportunities. As we know, Australia has world-class renewable resources of solar and wind and vast areas of land on which to build them. We no longer rely on the electricity generators concentrated on a handful of coal deposits around the country. Today, from Tasmania to Cooktown and across to Port Augusta, renewable energy generators can be built and connected to the grid. Unlike the large coal deposits which are in specific locations, the sun and the wind is everywhere. This opens up a new window for rural communities. We all know how tough farming can be. One year they have too much rain. The next year, not enough. Even in the good years, international markets and supply chain issues can undermine profits. People in the cities probably don't understand that being a farmer is more than just a job. It's a lifestyle commitment. Farmers will do just about anything to stay on the farm. Now, we have a renewable energy revolution on our hands. It has been driven by the need to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions globally but, as it turns out, there are huge side benefits - especially for rural communities. We are on track to spend hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade or two on renewable energy projects, much of it in rural areas. There is a jobs boom already under way and it is estimated that between 20,000 and 60,000 jobs will be created by 2030. If a region has very cheap renewable electricity, all kinds of new business opportunities are created. Instead of transporting raw materials to the cities, or overseas, for processing, having cheap, local power means processing can be done locally. This also massively reduces transport costs and the emissions associated with it. There are renewable energy zones or hubs proposed right across the nation, among farms and mining areas. Locally produced, cheap, clean electricity creates all kinds of new business opportunities in those areas. So, my question is a simple one. Why aren't the Nationals, the champions of the bush, going into bat for renewables? Clearly, the opportunity to increase farm security is real. Diversifying farm income is a gift. The opportunity to improve services in rural areas is also real. New, well-paid, skilled jobs in rural areas are available rather than forcing people to go to a city for work. The rollout of renewables is enabling people to move to the country, get a decent job and buy a reasonably priced house. That is an opportunity we haven't seen in decades and yet the Nationals are rejecting it. For sure, we don't want to see landholders' rights abused by developers. We don't want to see inappropriate development in sensitive areas. We don't want to see farming operations compromised by a lack of planning on the developer's behalf. But that's where the Nationals can play a significant role. They can support farmers and ensure that sensible compromises between developers and local communities are secured. They can hold Canberra to account and force the transition to be managed well. They can fight for infrastructure upgrades that communities can use for decades. MORE OPINION: Renewable energy is here today. It's proven and reliable. It's not an idea off in the distance decades away. We are already witnessing existing coal power stations become unreliable and fail more often. The Nationals talk about having reliable power. Renewables replacing old baseload today is how you get there. The Nationals claim that nuclear power is the answer. But a nuclear power solution for the cities, let alone for rural areas, is decades away. What do they propose that we do in the interim? The Nationals also claim that renewable energy can't power the grid fully and yet they have never provided the evidence. They have only made empty statements with no engineering reasoning to support such a claim. To the contrary, the power industry has shown that renewables can power the grid. Through modelling from experts such as the CSIRO and from the actions of our largest electricity suppliers such as AGL, Energy Australia, Engie and Origin, we are already moving to a renewable grid today. So the Nationals need to explain to their supporters why they aren't promoting the concept of significant economic growth in rural communities via renewable energy when the opportunity is being offered to them. At the same time, they need to provide the engineering data to confirm their view that renewables can't power the grid 24/7 and why leading energy industry experts in Australia are all wrong. The Nationals are supposed to be the champions of the bush. Not just farmers, but also for the people in country towns across Australia. I grew up on a dairy farm in Gippsland. I have witnessed small country towns shrinking over my lifetime as technology has improved. Mechanisation has reduced the number of people required on farms. The opportunity to get a skilled, well-paid job in the country has reduced over time and so, instead, young people have moved to the cities. Many rural towns are dying. As the towns shrink, services are removed in a kind of a death spiral, if you will. In 2025, we are experiencing a technological revolution in electricity generation - a once in a century change to a critical service. We are moving from the old, very large baseload generation model, which has served us very well for a long time, to the new, widely distributed renewable energy generation and storage. That transition is already under way. In 2024, 40 per cent of the grid's annual electricity supply came from renewables. This changeover is now progressing at around 5 per cent per year meaning that we will be close to 90 to 100 per cent renewable energy in the next 10 years. With this change comes tremendous opportunities. As we know, Australia has world-class renewable resources of solar and wind and vast areas of land on which to build them. We no longer rely on the electricity generators concentrated on a handful of coal deposits around the country. Today, from Tasmania to Cooktown and across to Port Augusta, renewable energy generators can be built and connected to the grid. Unlike the large coal deposits which are in specific locations, the sun and the wind is everywhere. This opens up a new window for rural communities. We all know how tough farming can be. One year they have too much rain. The next year, not enough. Even in the good years, international markets and supply chain issues can undermine profits. People in the cities probably don't understand that being a farmer is more than just a job. It's a lifestyle commitment. Farmers will do just about anything to stay on the farm. Now, we have a renewable energy revolution on our hands. It has been driven by the need to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions globally but, as it turns out, there are huge side benefits - especially for rural communities. We are on track to spend hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade or two on renewable energy projects, much of it in rural areas. There is a jobs boom already under way and it is estimated that between 20,000 and 60,000 jobs will be created by 2030. If a region has very cheap renewable electricity, all kinds of new business opportunities are created. Instead of transporting raw materials to the cities, or overseas, for processing, having cheap, local power means processing can be done locally. This also massively reduces transport costs and the emissions associated with it. There are renewable energy zones or hubs proposed right across the nation, among farms and mining areas. Locally produced, cheap, clean electricity creates all kinds of new business opportunities in those areas. So, my question is a simple one. Why aren't the Nationals, the champions of the bush, going into bat for renewables? Clearly, the opportunity to increase farm security is real. Diversifying farm income is a gift. The opportunity to improve services in rural areas is also real. New, well-paid, skilled jobs in rural areas are available rather than forcing people to go to a city for work. The rollout of renewables is enabling people to move to the country, get a decent job and buy a reasonably priced house. That is an opportunity we haven't seen in decades and yet the Nationals are rejecting it. For sure, we don't want to see landholders' rights abused by developers. We don't want to see inappropriate development in sensitive areas. We don't want to see farming operations compromised by a lack of planning on the developer's behalf. But that's where the Nationals can play a significant role. They can support farmers and ensure that sensible compromises between developers and local communities are secured. They can hold Canberra to account and force the transition to be managed well. They can fight for infrastructure upgrades that communities can use for decades. MORE OPINION: Renewable energy is here today. It's proven and reliable. It's not an idea off in the distance decades away. We are already witnessing existing coal power stations become unreliable and fail more often. The Nationals talk about having reliable power. Renewables replacing old baseload today is how you get there. The Nationals claim that nuclear power is the answer. But a nuclear power solution for the cities, let alone for rural areas, is decades away. What do they propose that we do in the interim? The Nationals also claim that renewable energy can't power the grid fully and yet they have never provided the evidence. They have only made empty statements with no engineering reasoning to support such a claim. To the contrary, the power industry has shown that renewables can power the grid. Through modelling from experts such as the CSIRO and from the actions of our largest electricity suppliers such as AGL, Energy Australia, Engie and Origin, we are already moving to a renewable grid today. So the Nationals need to explain to their supporters why they aren't promoting the concept of significant economic growth in rural communities via renewable energy when the opportunity is being offered to them. At the same time, they need to provide the engineering data to confirm their view that renewables can't power the grid 24/7 and why leading energy industry experts in Australia are all wrong. The Nationals are supposed to be the champions of the bush. Not just farmers, but also for the people in country towns across Australia. I grew up on a dairy farm in Gippsland. I have witnessed small country towns shrinking over my lifetime as technology has improved. Mechanisation has reduced the number of people required on farms. The opportunity to get a skilled, well-paid job in the country has reduced over time and so, instead, young people have moved to the cities. Many rural towns are dying. As the towns shrink, services are removed in a kind of a death spiral, if you will. In 2025, we are experiencing a technological revolution in electricity generation - a once in a century change to a critical service. We are moving from the old, very large baseload generation model, which has served us very well for a long time, to the new, widely distributed renewable energy generation and storage. That transition is already under way. In 2024, 40 per cent of the grid's annual electricity supply came from renewables. This changeover is now progressing at around 5 per cent per year meaning that we will be close to 90 to 100 per cent renewable energy in the next 10 years. With this change comes tremendous opportunities. As we know, Australia has world-class renewable resources of solar and wind and vast areas of land on which to build them. We no longer rely on the electricity generators concentrated on a handful of coal deposits around the country. Today, from Tasmania to Cooktown and across to Port Augusta, renewable energy generators can be built and connected to the grid. Unlike the large coal deposits which are in specific locations, the sun and the wind is everywhere. This opens up a new window for rural communities. We all know how tough farming can be. One year they have too much rain. The next year, not enough. Even in the good years, international markets and supply chain issues can undermine profits. People in the cities probably don't understand that being a farmer is more than just a job. It's a lifestyle commitment. Farmers will do just about anything to stay on the farm. Now, we have a renewable energy revolution on our hands. It has been driven by the need to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions globally but, as it turns out, there are huge side benefits - especially for rural communities. We are on track to spend hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade or two on renewable energy projects, much of it in rural areas. There is a jobs boom already under way and it is estimated that between 20,000 and 60,000 jobs will be created by 2030. If a region has very cheap renewable electricity, all kinds of new business opportunities are created. Instead of transporting raw materials to the cities, or overseas, for processing, having cheap, local power means processing can be done locally. This also massively reduces transport costs and the emissions associated with it. There are renewable energy zones or hubs proposed right across the nation, among farms and mining areas. Locally produced, cheap, clean electricity creates all kinds of new business opportunities in those areas. So, my question is a simple one. Why aren't the Nationals, the champions of the bush, going into bat for renewables? Clearly, the opportunity to increase farm security is real. Diversifying farm income is a gift. The opportunity to improve services in rural areas is also real. New, well-paid, skilled jobs in rural areas are available rather than forcing people to go to a city for work. The rollout of renewables is enabling people to move to the country, get a decent job and buy a reasonably priced house. That is an opportunity we haven't seen in decades and yet the Nationals are rejecting it. For sure, we don't want to see landholders' rights abused by developers. We don't want to see inappropriate development in sensitive areas. We don't want to see farming operations compromised by a lack of planning on the developer's behalf. But that's where the Nationals can play a significant role. They can support farmers and ensure that sensible compromises between developers and local communities are secured. They can hold Canberra to account and force the transition to be managed well. They can fight for infrastructure upgrades that communities can use for decades. MORE OPINION: Renewable energy is here today. It's proven and reliable. It's not an idea off in the distance decades away. We are already witnessing existing coal power stations become unreliable and fail more often. The Nationals talk about having reliable power. Renewables replacing old baseload today is how you get there. The Nationals claim that nuclear power is the answer. But a nuclear power solution for the cities, let alone for rural areas, is decades away. What do they propose that we do in the interim? The Nationals also claim that renewable energy can't power the grid fully and yet they have never provided the evidence. They have only made empty statements with no engineering reasoning to support such a claim. To the contrary, the power industry has shown that renewables can power the grid. Through modelling from experts such as the CSIRO and from the actions of our largest electricity suppliers such as AGL, Energy Australia, Engie and Origin, we are already moving to a renewable grid today. So the Nationals need to explain to their supporters why they aren't promoting the concept of significant economic growth in rural communities via renewable energy when the opportunity is being offered to them. At the same time, they need to provide the engineering data to confirm their view that renewables can't power the grid 24/7 and why leading energy industry experts in Australia are all wrong. The Nationals are supposed to be the champions of the bush. Not just farmers, but also for the people in country towns across Australia. I grew up on a dairy farm in Gippsland. I have witnessed small country towns shrinking over my lifetime as technology has improved. Mechanisation has reduced the number of people required on farms. The opportunity to get a skilled, well-paid job in the country has reduced over time and so, instead, young people have moved to the cities. Many rural towns are dying. As the towns shrink, services are removed in a kind of a death spiral, if you will. In 2025, we are experiencing a technological revolution in electricity generation - a once in a century change to a critical service. We are moving from the old, very large baseload generation model, which has served us very well for a long time, to the new, widely distributed renewable energy generation and storage. That transition is already under way. In 2024, 40 per cent of the grid's annual electricity supply came from renewables. This changeover is now progressing at around 5 per cent per year meaning that we will be close to 90 to 100 per cent renewable energy in the next 10 years. With this change comes tremendous opportunities. As we know, Australia has world-class renewable resources of solar and wind and vast areas of land on which to build them. We no longer rely on the electricity generators concentrated on a handful of coal deposits around the country. Today, from Tasmania to Cooktown and across to Port Augusta, renewable energy generators can be built and connected to the grid. Unlike the large coal deposits which are in specific locations, the sun and the wind is everywhere. This opens up a new window for rural communities. We all know how tough farming can be. One year they have too much rain. The next year, not enough. Even in the good years, international markets and supply chain issues can undermine profits. People in the cities probably don't understand that being a farmer is more than just a job. It's a lifestyle commitment. Farmers will do just about anything to stay on the farm. Now, we have a renewable energy revolution on our hands. It has been driven by the need to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions globally but, as it turns out, there are huge side benefits - especially for rural communities. We are on track to spend hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade or two on renewable energy projects, much of it in rural areas. There is a jobs boom already under way and it is estimated that between 20,000 and 60,000 jobs will be created by 2030. If a region has very cheap renewable electricity, all kinds of new business opportunities are created. Instead of transporting raw materials to the cities, or overseas, for processing, having cheap, local power means processing can be done locally. This also massively reduces transport costs and the emissions associated with it. There are renewable energy zones or hubs proposed right across the nation, among farms and mining areas. Locally produced, cheap, clean electricity creates all kinds of new business opportunities in those areas. So, my question is a simple one. Why aren't the Nationals, the champions of the bush, going into bat for renewables? Clearly, the opportunity to increase farm security is real. Diversifying farm income is a gift. The opportunity to improve services in rural areas is also real. New, well-paid, skilled jobs in rural areas are available rather than forcing people to go to a city for work. The rollout of renewables is enabling people to move to the country, get a decent job and buy a reasonably priced house. That is an opportunity we haven't seen in decades and yet the Nationals are rejecting it. For sure, we don't want to see landholders' rights abused by developers. We don't want to see inappropriate development in sensitive areas. We don't want to see farming operations compromised by a lack of planning on the developer's behalf. But that's where the Nationals can play a significant role. They can support farmers and ensure that sensible compromises between developers and local communities are secured. They can hold Canberra to account and force the transition to be managed well. They can fight for infrastructure upgrades that communities can use for decades. MORE OPINION: Renewable energy is here today. It's proven and reliable. It's not an idea off in the distance decades away. We are already witnessing existing coal power stations become unreliable and fail more often. The Nationals talk about having reliable power. Renewables replacing old baseload today is how you get there. The Nationals claim that nuclear power is the answer. But a nuclear power solution for the cities, let alone for rural areas, is decades away. What do they propose that we do in the interim? The Nationals also claim that renewable energy can't power the grid fully and yet they have never provided the evidence. They have only made empty statements with no engineering reasoning to support such a claim. To the contrary, the power industry has shown that renewables can power the grid. Through modelling from experts such as the CSIRO and from the actions of our largest electricity suppliers such as AGL, Energy Australia, Engie and Origin, we are already moving to a renewable grid today. So the Nationals need to explain to their supporters why they aren't promoting the concept of significant economic growth in rural communities via renewable energy when the opportunity is being offered to them. At the same time, they need to provide the engineering data to confirm their view that renewables can't power the grid 24/7 and why leading energy industry experts in Australia are all wrong.
