Parks Victoria: Friend or Foe? Noble protectors of our public parks or lazy land managers, locking people out rather than working on solutions? As climbers, should we cosy up to PV in the hope of a few crumbs of comfort in the future or do we kick up an almighty fuss about the vilification of climbers and the biggest climbing lockout in history? This debate has been going on for a while and the climbing community has been somewhat divided.

Where do you stand on calling Parks Victoria to account?

David Limbrick and Tim Quilty of the Liberal Democrats want to debate this issue on Wednesday in the Victorian Legislative Council (the Upper House) on behalf of climbers and other park users. The proposed “Lockouts Motion” is shown attached. It would be interesting to know what our elected representatives decide when the recent actions of Parks Victoria are examined carefully.

David and Tim need the votes of most of the cross benchers to bring about the debate. It’s a long shot, so they are relying on strong community support to explain the situation to the following Members:

Please email the Legislative Council members below with a personal message, supporting the lockout motion and explaining the impact of the lockouts from your perspective. You can also contact the Members via their Facebook pages.

Samantha Ratnam (Greens) : samantha.ratnam@parliament.vic.gov.au
Rod Barton (Transport Matters) : rod.barton@parliament.vic.gov.au
Tania Maxwell (Hinch Justice) : tania.maxwell@parliament.vic.gov.au
Stuart Grimley (Hinch Justice) : stuart.grimley@parliament.vic.gov.au
Catherine Cumming (Independent) : catherine.cumming@parliament.vic.gov.au
Jeff Bourman (Shooters, Farmers & Fishers) : jeff.bourman@parliament.vic.gov.au
Clifford Hayes (Sustainable Australia) : clifford.hayes@parliament.vic.gov.au
Andy Meddick (Animal Justice) : andy.meddick@parliament.vic.gov.au
Fiona Patten (Reason) : fiona.patten@parliament.vic.gov.au
David Davis (Leader of the Liberal Party in the upper house) : david.davis@parliament.vic.gov.au

Please do this urgently; the debate is planned for Wednesday 19th June. If you haven’t joined the ACAV yet, now would be a good time. Climbing everywhere is under threat. An extra donation to our Access Fund would be much appreciated if this issue is important to you. Please share.