ACAV has called for the withdrawal of newly-introduced “all of park” access bans on legal and regulatory grounds.

Link: ACAV Letter to Parks Victoria 30 May 2022

Recent modifications to the National Parks Regulations 2013, allow Parks Victoria to ban everyone from all parks across the state if they wish to do so. The Victorian parks comprise 4 million hectares or 18% of the land area of Victoria, including 70% of our coastline.

On 9th March 2022, Matthew Jackson, CEO of Parks Victoria, implemented a “whole of a park” legal instrument to execute new set aside determinations for the Grampians/Gariwerd National Park, banning more than three-quarters of the climbing.

There is concern that this new legislation may soon be applied at Australia’s premier rock climbing location, Mount Arapiles / Dyurrite.

ACAV has requested that Parks Victoria:

1. Withdraws the implementation of all-of-the-park set asides, pending a review of legal and regulatory compliance.
2. Instigates an internal review of the justification for this proposed all-of-the-park exclusion approach.
3. Suspends the implementation of the associated rock climbing and bouldering measures prescribed within the Greater Gariwerd Landscape Management Plan.
4. Collaborates with climbing groups to modify Parks Victoria strategy in this area, guided by the well-established principles described within the Victorian Climbing Management Guidelines.

Victorian Climbing Management Guidelines

As further restrictions are introduced, we can only reflect upon what may be gained by this approach, and what may be lost.

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