One city has a fraction of the access to nature as its neighbour

Melburnians have the poorest access to national parks and protected landscapes in Australia, a deficit that has accelerated as the population booms and threatens the famed world-class liveability of Victoria.

New research shows Sydneysiders have more than three times the easy access to protected natural areas than Melburnians and Canberrans have more than 10 times the access to national parks and other protected areas.

Access to protected areas within 60km of the CBD has declined between 2001 and 2024, the study, co-authored by ecologist Distinguished Professor David Lindenmayer, found.

“The increasing intensification of urban development is denying more and more Melburnians access to the places that they need for their mental health and their physical health, and so this is one of the reasons why Melbourne in no way can be considered to be Australia’s most livable city,” he said.

Melbourne is Australia’s fastest-growing city. Between 2001 and 2025, Melbourne’s population soared by more than 1.8 million people, more than the combined populations of Geelong and Adelaide.

Last year, there were 38 people for each hectare of protected area in Melbourne, compared with 13.1 people per hectare in Brisbane, 12.2 people per hectare in Sydney and 0.3 people per hectare in Hobart.

In 2024, most of Australia’s population – 88 per cent – resided in cities or regional centres with more than 10,000 people, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Those urban areas covered just 54,584 square kilometres, or 0.71 per cent of Australia’s landmass, which concentrated people into relatively small areas and raised the need for access to protected areas like national parks, the research paper’s authors say.

“This is not simply an environmental issue; it’s a health and cost-of-living issue,” said environmental campaigner Sarah Rees, a co-author of the study.

“The research shows that access to nature reduces stress, improves mental health and lowers healthcare costs. At a time when families are under pressure, creating a new national park east of the city would give millions of Melburnians access to world-class nature close to home, without the cost of expensive holidays or long-distance travel.”

The peer-reviewed study, published in Landscape and Urban Planning, comes after the Victorian government in November legislated three new national parks, two conservation parks and an expanded Bendigo Regional Park. Those protected areas will officially open in October, a government spokesman said.

However, the study’s lead author, Dr Chris Taylor, said those new nat