Thursday, 16 November 2023

Grampians rock climbing

Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) incorporated the following (615):

My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Environment and concerns the extraordinarily long delays on the part of Parks Victoria and Barengi Gadgin Land Council in conducting archaeological surveys and community engagement at Mt Arapiles Tooan State Park in my electorate of Western Victoria.

Rising sharply from the Wimmera plains, Mt Arapiles is a world-renowned rock-climbing area with more than 3000 routes established on the many cliffs, crags and pinnacles, presenting variety and challenge for all climbers’ levels of experience.

Mt Arapiles is much loved by thousands of visitors and climbers who contribute 12 million dollars a year to the local region.

In October 2020, significant sections of Mt Arapiles were suddenly closed to climbers and walkers.

Parks Victoria announced they were conducting archaeological surveys to assess Aboriginal cultural heritage and it would be completed within 6 to 12 months.

That was three years ago and climbing bans are still in place and the archaeological assessments have not been made public.

After many locals repeated requests for information, Parks Victoria finally said in May this year,

“we will undertake community engagement on the findings of the survey work and share any proposed changes to access in the coming months.

We will be in touch with the community shortly to provide an update on the proposed timing of the engagement process.”

That was six months ago, and locals have no further communication from Parks Victoria and only have continued silence from the Barengi Gadgin Land Council.

It has now been more than three years and we still had no indication as to when we can expect the archaeological assessments to be made public, or as to when we can expect any community engagements to occur.

If Parks Victoria wish to support the long-term sustainability of climbing, as indicated on their website, they must swiftly act on the climbing and walking bans at Mt Arapiles.

The action I seek from the Minister is to make the archaeological assessments at Mt Arapiles public and to conduct immediate community engagement so that climbing and walking bans at Mt Arapiles Tooan State Park can be lifted as soon as possible.