Free admission pledge

By Nicole Williams
FRIENDS of the Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne are celebrating the thought of free entry to one of Australia’s most impressive gardens.
Entry to the Australian Garden in the Royal Botanic Gardens at Cranbourne will be free for all if Labor is re-elected this weekend.
Premier John Brumby and Cranbourne Labor MP Jude Perera have promised to remove the entry frees to coincide with the opening of the $20 million expansion of the Australian Gardens in 2011.
“Victoria has a world-class network of parks and gardens and we want to make sure access to them is as easy as possible for all visitors,” Mr Perera said.
“This is great news,” the president of the Friends of the Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne, Margaret Clarke, said.
Providing free access would make visits to the garden more attractive for the community and local families, she said.
“I am sure we can look forward to greatly increased numbers of visitors,” she said.
This year the Australian Garden was accepted into one of the world’s most prestigious flower shows, the UK’s Chelsea Flower Show.
The removal of entrance fees to the garden would make access the same as for the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne and other state-run parks and gardens, Mr Perera said.
Ms Clarke said the loss of revenue would be compensated for by an annual increase in funding from the State Government.
The promise comes as part of Labor’s package of environmental initiatives announced last week.