VICTORIAN Environment Minister Ryan Smith has lost several key responsibilities involving logging and hunting, capping off a tumultuous year for the Liberal MP.
Premier Ted Baillieu's decision just before Christmas means Nationals deputy leader and Agriculture Minister Peter Walsh takes greater control of the areas.
Labor environment spokeswoman Lisa Neville labelled it a ''demotion by stealth'' and said it showed the government cared little for the environment. ''This is clear evidence the National Party are running environmental policy in Victoria,'' she said.
The move was detailed in an order made by Mr Baillieu two weeks ago and discreetly uploaded to the Department of Premier and Cabinet website.
While Mr Smith and Mr Walsh previously shared several areas of responsibility, the order reveals some of these will now be overseen solely by the National MP.
The changes will give Mr Walsh more say in the regulation of Victoria's controversial native forestry industry, including keeping protesters out of certain logging sites.
It also gives him more influence over hunting policy.
This week Mr Walsh launched the biggest duck and quail hunting season in over a decade, allowing hunters to shoot 10 birds a day for 87 days starting on March 17, as he announced the creation of Game Victoria to oversee hunting in the state.
Mr Smith's year has been dogged by controversy, starting with the reintroduction of cattle grazing into the Alpine National Park.
That move was later halted by the federal government.
He faced bitter criticism for signalling a possible reduction in Victoria's target of a 20 per cent cut in greenhouse gas emissions this decade, and last month it emerged that he owned shares in a solar panel company that received a $50 million government grant.
Ms Neville said: ''Victorians knew that the environment was not a priority for Ted Baillieu when he failed to take an environment policy to the last election, and the removal of these powers from the Minister for Environment … to the Minister for Agriculture is the latest sign.''
A government spokesman said the move fulfilled a pre-election commitment, but declined to provide further information.
The power shift to Mr Walsh came in the same month as he moved to guarantee the long-term future of Victoria's timber industry, fulfilling a Coalition election commitment.
Under a new forestry plan, the government-owned commercial timber agency VicForests takes responsibility for determining the amount of timber to be harvested and when and where it is logged.
A host of promised changes includes a decision that new native timber contracts for forestry companies will last 20 years, up from the current five-year maximum, and a review of timber legislation.
The government will also indemnify VicForests if a contract is broken due to future changes in policy.
The Wilderness Society's Luke Chamberlain said the decision to take power from the Environment Minister showed the Baillieu government saw forests only for loggers.
''This government is doing anything to back what is a dying industry, and when we have got a biodiversity crisis in a time of climate change, our forests need more protection, not handled like a wood crop,'' Mr Chamberlain said.
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