Potential reductions in use of NSW state and national parks have sparked alarm bells among the hunting and outdoor community, who have launched a petition calling for a Parliamentary inquiry in the situation.
The NSW Government has reportedly been significantly expanding its state forest and national park holdings, including with the 2023 purchase of a 437,394 ha property near Bourke, and has an active program in place to further expand such holdings.
Normally this would be considered a good thing, but there has been an increasing trend among Australian governments to adopt a “lock it and leave it” approach to state forests and national parks — putting recreational hunting areas at risk as a result.
The petition calls for an inquiry into the situation, and started by keen hunter Tony Gavan and supported by Libertarian Party upper house MP John Ruddick. It reads:
“The petitioners of New South Wales state that all NSW national parks should be open to recreational users, including off road vehicle use, motor bike use, mountain biking, fossicking, hunting, and fishing, but are not.
“The petitioners request that the House conduct a Parliamentary inquiry into the current reduction of the use of national parks, and debate the viability of allowing currently prohibited recreational activities in all NSW national parks.”
Mr Gavan said he had started the petition out of his concern over the increasing number of state forests and national parks coupled with increasing restrictions on how people are able to enjoy them.
“I thought it was important to encourage parliamentary debate on these issues and how public land — regardless of whether it is national park or state forest or Crown land — could best be used by the people of NSW,” he said.
Mr Ruddick said the petition had his support as it was about ensuring taxpayer funded national parks and state forests were open to absolutely everyone, and cited the closure of Mt Warning (in NSW’s Northern Rivers region, about an hour’s drive from the Queensland border) as an example of the threats facing these places.
“The mountain was first shut down by the Coalition in 2020 due to bizarre and unwarranted Covid-19 concerns,” he said.
“Clearly this didn’t make any sense so in 2022 the reasons changed to the preservation of Aboriginal cultural heritage and safety concerns.
“This sparked intense community outrage due to the loss of access to their mountain and devastated the local economy.
“I recently moved an amendment to the National Parks and Heritage Legislation Amendment Bill 2024. My amendment would have required the mere consideration of public access to national parks as part of their plans of management and yet even this was rejected.”
NSW-based residents can sign the petition, which is open until October 18, here: https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/lc/pages/epetition-details.aspx?q=ut8EXt3I0eb6DfZDxvRMBw
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