STAYING in the Mount Buffalo Chalet should be part of a "comprehensive plan" to restore the guesthouse, the member for Indi says.
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Helen Haines was commenting after the federal government announced it would provide $3 million for the upkeep of the heritage-listed building.
"This is a great start, we want more money to follow of course," Dr Haines said.
"What we want is a comprehensive plan of restoring our chalet to its former glory, taking it to a new glory actually.
"We live in the future, not in the past."
Dr Haines said "most certainly" when asked if she wanted visitors to be able to again stay overnight in the chalet which has been closed to the public since 2007.
"I would like Australians, international guests, to share in the glory of what Mount Buffalo has to offer," she said.
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"I think that by fully restoring our chalet... (and) enabling accommodation and food and wine and outdoor activities is great for our whole community.
"A fantastic Mount Buffalo chalet has flow-on effects right across the region.
"Not everyone would want to stay at the chalet, but loads of people want to experience what it has to offer."
Victoria's member of parliament for Mount Buffalo described the return of lodging at the chalet as a "long term pipedream".
Ovens Valley MP Tim McCurdy believes it would require private investment and said "it would still be many moons away" given an estimate it would cost $38 million to reopen the chalet.
In the short term he is keen to realise cafe plans for visitors to the landmark.
"(We need to get) people getting to sit to have a Devonshire tea or lunch inside the building and looking out, that's where we need to be," Mr McCurdy said.
"There's also the opportunity down the track for the ballroom to be opened for weddings or public events, but I just think accommodation is a really long bow."
Parks Victoria, which oversees the chalet, is planning to seek expressions of interest in operating a cafe by the end of the year.
Mr McCurdy said the state government needed to set a clear timeframe for that process and have a step-by-step plan for the restoration of the chalet.
He rejected supposition that Parks Victoria was neglecting the chalet because it did not support having such a building in a national park.
"I don't subscribe to that theory," Mr McCurdy said.
"I subscribe to the theory that there is not a lot of cash out there and it hasn't been a high priority over the years."
The chalet was shut-up in 2007 after a dispute between Parks Victoria and the Burbank Group which was leasing the premises.
It reached its centenary in 2010.
