Monash Publications No.57/GES
Monash Publications in Geography & Environmental Science: Number 57
Parks, Politics and the Potential for Change: Conservation, National Parks and the Kennet Government, 1992-1999
by Chantal Parslow
In its application of an economic rationalist approach, reforms made to national park management in Victoria by the Kennett Government may have shifted away from more traditional views of conservation. Nonetheless, this allowed for a transformation to a new era of national parks management, where an effective compromise between traditional conservation values and commercial developments could be established. This work provides a quantitative analysis of the proposals and developments made to three prominent conservation areas, Wilsons Promontory National Park, Port Campbell National Park and The Nobbies. Significant opposition was raised against these various developments and proposals from 1992-1999, a period under which the Government altered its initial plans to mitigate the application of economic rationalism. The work argues that the Kennett Government's approach to environmental policies was a modified version of economic rationalism. In its pursuit of a 'sustainable development,' it allowed traditional conservation values to challenge its purely economic and materialistic approach. This work explores the changes made to environmental policy under the administration of the Kennett Government and the influence of neo-classical liberalism during this period. It provides a broad discourse of important literary works, articles and government policy. In doing so, it challenges some of the writings of Peter Christoff, Brian Coffey and Nicholas Economou. In their discussions they have suggested that the Government's approach to an application of economic rationalism was to the detriment of environmental and community values and was unable to effectively establish a balance between conservation and commercialisation.