The Victorian government has pushed ahead with a controversial hot springs resort in Point Nepean national park, a move conservationists warn could signal the start of numerous developments in the state’s national parks.
A 50-year lease for the site has been granted to Point Nepean Leisure Group to develop a 64-hectare site within the national park. The tenant is required to spend $10m to deliver the hot springs, although geothermal drilling will have to take place first to see if the site is suitable.
The developer will then be able to build a restaurant, cafe, indoor thermal baths, a health retreat, fitness centre and accommodation.
The agreement was struck on the eve of the Victorian government going into caretaker mode before the state election on 29 November.
Opponents of the plan say resorts have no place in national parks and have criticised the Coalition’s plan to open up to two thirds of Victoria’s national parks for development, with leases lasting up to 99 years.
Point Nepean national park sits at the tip of the Mornington Peninsula, about 90km from Melbourne. It includes a historic quarantine station and a memorial to former prime minister Harold Holt, who went missing while swimming in the area in 1967.
The government has said that rent from the development, to begin in 2017, would be put back into preserving national parks. Labor opposes the policy.
The Victorian National Parks Association said the Coalition had no mandate to open up national parks for development.
“We were never told that parts of national parks would be sliced off for long-term leases,” the executive director of the association, Matt Ruchel, told Guardian Australia.
“The planning process has been fast tracked and it’s still unclear exactly what taxpayers get in return from this deal.
“The principal role of national parks is one of conservation but also as a public asset. You’ll have to pay to use most of the facilities in this resort, so it has privatised an area in a public park.”
Ruchel said he was concerned that rare vegetation would be cleared for the development, and that a jetty would be built into a dolphin sanctuary.
The Victorian government’s drive to open up national parks has prompted plans to put accommodation in areas such as the Grampians and the state’s alpine region. The Queensland government has also outlined plans to open up its national parks, citing the resulting economic benefits.
