Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said that, in contrast, the new vision for the park had been developed in close consultation with the community. “The previous government rode roughshod over the community by trying to privatise the area for commercial development – failing to set height restrictions on new buildings and planning to destroy vital native vegetation,” she said. “Future large-scale developments at Point Nepean are not part of our plan and goes against what the community want and our clear position for no large-scale, commercial developments in Victoria’s national parks.” Lease rushed through: Point Nepean National Park. The government’s plan allocates $3.7 million for early initiatives including a new "camping experience" at the Quarantine Station, road repairs to Fort Nepean, upgrading the Quarantine Station disinfecting complex and "park-wide interpretation and storytelling".

Nepean Conservation Group president Ursula De Jong said her group would need to examine the proposals thoroughly and that the government still needed to provide more details. But she welcomed the plan as a promising start and said it could mark a victory for the local community and conservation efforts – provided it received bipartisan support and was acted on quickly. “Point Nepean has been a political football for quite some time now,” Dr De Jong said. “We need these things initiated and set in place well before the election is announced and the government goes into caretaker mode. “The Andrews government promised that it would review and implement the masterplan before the next election – and we’re very keen to work with them to do that.”

The Deakin University associate professor said she still held some concerns for the park’s future. She said she would monitor how the advisory group was appointed and how the park's historic buildings – including the quarantine station – were used. But Dr De Jong said she would back plans for small-scale, appropriate commercial use which could include accommodation, conference facilities and catering. “It’s got to be used. If we don’t use it and care for it, its built heritage will disintegrate,” she said. “Our job as a community, and the government’s job, is to ensure that use is sustainable going into the future.”

Others said they remained uncomfortable with any private use of the site. Elaine O'Hehir grew up in Blairgowrie, has lived in Tootgarook for the past 21 years and visits the park regularly. “My main concern about the plan is the new buildings / hotel-style accommodation [which is] commercial use of the area for private profit,” she said. “So much of the peninsula has been carved up for that, I would hate to see even some of this area suffer the same fate and become an area just for the elite.” Meanwhile, conservationists said restoration of the once heavily-degraded area would require continued investment – not a "band-aid fix".

Bushcrew leader Anton Vigenser said he remembered working in the park almost a decade ago when some areas had 90 per cent weed coverage and trees were cut down so that metal detectors could remove unexploded ordnances. "There are areas now which are down to less than 5 per cent [weed cover] and when you're working there and you see bandicoot diggings and swamp wallbies are watching you – it's pretty magic," he said. "It's an extremely important area, and much of it is very much untouched. It's got bandicoots, white-footed dunnarts, lots of small mammals and reptiles that have been pushed to near-extinction along most parts of the peninsula. "And with Nepean being a point, if we can keep improving it, into the future, we could start extending that work along the whole peninsula."