Thursday, 3 August 2023

Western Victoria Region

Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (12:56): (322) My question is for the Minister for Environment and concerns her Crown Land (Reserves) (Metropolitan and Regional Parks) Regulations 2023, gazetted on 27 June. These regulations single out climbing as banned in almost all areas by exclusion. Other recreational activities are granted permission, but rock climbing is by default prohibited. In answer to the question ‘Why is rock climbing treated differently?’ Outdoors Victoria stated:

The main reasons are the greater, longer lasting impact that climbing can have on cultural heritage and environmental values.

In place of working with climbing groups to enable their legitimate enjoyment of our parks, this lazy management just bans it instead. My question to the minister is simple: in this era of evidence-based decisions, what specific published studies or research is she relying on to justify the different treatment of climbing and the claim that it has a long-lasting impact on Victoria’s parks?