National Park Management and the Commercialisation of Nature: The Victorian Experience

During its time in office, the Kennett Government in Victoria implemented sweeping reforms across the Victorian public sector, including the introduction of an economic rationalist approach to national parks management. Discourse analysis is used to argue that such an approach to national parks management limited relevant inputs to decision-making, portrayed visitors to national parks as customers and presented national parks as neatly packaged experiences to be consumed by different market segments, to the detriment of environmental and community values. The unexpected election of the Bracks Labor Government at the 1999 State election raised expectations that commercialisation of national parks would be stopped. To date, the Bracks Government has addressed the more controversial initiatives proposed by the Kennett Government although significant elements of the Kennett Government's approach remain in operation.