This update has been provided to members with the approval of the ACAV committee.
It’s a short update (and a bit overdue) on things happening in the last few months; but we hope to bring members some more news very shortly.
Continue readingOn 3rd Dec 2019; the ACAV attended the RC Roundtable #3. Provided here are the official notes from the meeting.
Continue readingThe ACAV believes that all climbing clubs, groups, associations and businesses can work together as a united front to promote climbing as a healthy, environmental and culturally minded activity.
Next week on Wednesday 18 September, the ACAV will be hosting a meeting for all Victorian climbing clubs and related organisations and business to come and learn more about who and what the ACAV are.
This initiative is to share with key stakeholders in our climbing community, the purpose of the ACAV and what the ACAV have been working on with regards to access issues.
The agenda is as follows
5. Working with other Victorian climbing organisations:
The invitation has been sent to all committee members of the following clubs, organisations and businesses. If your club is not represented in this list or you are a committee member of one of those below but have not received an email invitation, feel welcome to email the ACAV secretary via secretary.vic@climb.org.au
| Adventure Guides Australia |
| Alpenverein Melbourne |
| Alpine SAR |
| Bayside Rock |
| BlocHaus |
| Bogong Equipment |
| Cliffhanger Climbing Gym |
| Climbing QTs |
| Gravity Worx |
| Hanging Out |
| Hardrock Climbing Gym |
| La Roca Boulders |
| La Trobe University Mountaineering Club |
| Melbourne University Mountaineering Club |
| Monash University Outdoor Club |
| Mount Bogong Club |
| Mountain Sports Collective |
| New Zealand Alpine Club |
| North Walls Climbing Gym |
| Northside Boulders |
| Outdoors Victoria |
| RMIT Outdoor Club |
| Sport and Recreation Victoria |
| Sport Climbing Australia |
| Sport Climbing Victoria |
| Swinburne Explorers Club |
| The Crag |
| Urban Climb |
| Vertical Life |
| Victorian Climbing Club |
| Western Victorian Climbing Club |
| The Wilderness Shop |
The ACAV Committee believes that Parks Victoria displayed major bureaucratic overreach in February 2019 by instituting Grampians rock climbing prohibitions. This episode has far-reaching consequences for the public good in terms of access to public lands for everyone. There is far more to this story than contained within the legal domain and we are at a critical point for future generations. Many user groups are facing similar lockouts from public lands.
The exclusion of respectful park users is a great detriment to park management and an opportunity has so far been missed to blend the knowledge of the Traditional Owners into genuine and collaborative park management. Respectful and knowledgeable park users are the natural allies of the Traditional Owners in seeking to bring future generations together to celebrate culture and the environment in a spirit of mutual respect and understanding.
On 25th July 2019, ACAV received this letter from the Manager, Legal Services of Parks Victoria in response to our requests for the reasons behind the Grampians climbing prohibitions.
In response, the ACAV has funded formal legal advice regarding the legality of the set aside determination used by Parks Victoria to prohibit rock climbing at various locations within the Grampians. We would like to thank ACAV members and supporters whose membership fees and donations have contributed to obtaining this advice.
Following advice from Senior Counsel, a letter from our lawyers was issued to Parks Victoria on Monday 2nd September 2019, asserting that the set aside determination is invalid and proposing that the set aside determination should be revoked. You can read the full letter here.
In simple terms the letter conveys that:
1. The climbing prohibitions are invalid as they currently stand.
2. The climbing prohibitions are “legally unreasonable” and “disproportionate to the supposed mischief to be addressed”.
The letter gives Parks Victoria seven days to provide a substantive response, without which we have instructed our lawyers to commence proceedings for a judicial review.
The ACAV will continue to provide updates on a regular basis as information comes to hand and when we have a better idea of the position Parks Victoria wants to take towards the ACAV and Grampians climbing access.
Please show your support by becoming an ACAV member join via this link
With the potential for the requirement of additional legal counsel and fees, we need your help to top up the ACAV Access Fund. To assist with the incursion of future costs, please consider giving an extra donation via this link.
The ACAV Committee would like to thank the climbing community for its continued support and commitment to resolving access issues in the Grampians.
Following the ACAV Annual General Meeting on 11th July, the ACAV Executive Committee held its initial committee meeting on Wednesday 24th July 2019. Below are some key messages and updates that were emailed to ACAV members last week.
There is also a post on the ACAV website outlining key strategy documents which we are encouraging members to become involved in – more info at the bottom of this update.
The following meeting report describes the convoluted negotiations that occurred in attempts by Parks Victoria to keep Licensed Tour Operators running climbing activities at Summerday Valley. It’s a rambling tale that is still being played out.
If you want a snapshot of the the meeting outcome, scroll to the end for the “bookable sites” images that Parks Victoria issued on 29th July.
Continue readingMember Communication sent 29 June 2019:
Thank You from the ACAV Interim Committee!!
Thank you, thank you and thank you! The ACAV Interim Committee would like to thank the rock climbing community for its support. As of today, Saturday 29 June, ACAV celebrates its 700th individual member!
Continue readingSent to members: Thursday 20 June, 2019
Continue readingParks 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.
Continue readingNotes from the 5th June ACAV/VCC Meeting with Government Representatives
Following the June 4 meeting with Licensed Tour Operators (LTOs), representatives from ACAV (Interim Committee Members, Mike Tomkins and Mark Wood) and VCC (President, Paula Toal) met with government representatives after a request by ACAV to meet with the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Lily D’Ambrosio. The initial request from ACAV was specifically to speak with the Minister. However, the Minister, represented by Dionne Eagleson, chose to include additional participants and stakeholders including: Simon Talbot (Parks Victoria COO); Lisa Patroni (Parks Victoria ED Marketing, Communications and Partnerships); Carol Nichols (Parks Victoria Director Public Affairs and Communications); Tim Kanoa (Aboriginal Victoria) and Harry Webber (Aboriginal Victoria).
Representatives from Regional Development Victoria and Tourism Victoria were invited, but were unable to attend due to other government business.
This is not the meeting the ACAV wanted. We have requested an urgent meeting with Lily D’Ambrosio, Martin Pakula (Minister for Tourism and Major Events) and Gavin Jennings (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs).
Prior to the meeting, ACAV and VCC discussed strategy and met beforehand to present a united front. There have been acknowledged differences in approach, along with a strengthening understanding of our focus on the issues and working for the community that we represent. The ACAV do not claim to represent all climbers but are fighting for access for all. The important thing that was stressed by the ACAV and the VCC is that climbers are a significant part of the solution to a complex problem and our specialist knowledge is vital to the success of park management in the future.
Summerday Valley (SDV)
SDV is listed within one of the Grampians Special Protection Areas (SPAs) on the current maps provided by Parks Victoria (PV). Simon Talbot gave a presentation at the LTO meeting on June 4. SDV poses the most difficult conundrum for PV as it is identified in the 2003 Management Plan as one of only a few sites in the park suitable for instructional use. The ACAV noted that SDV is also one of the only places suitable for use by disabled climbers or where carers can safely take disabled individuals while they climb. There has been no comprehensive Cultural Heritage Survey conducted in this heavily used area and the cost of such an assessment is valued around $1m!! How this relates to the ‘assessments’ mentioned at the LTO meeting is unknown.
The ACAV also noted that LTOs are currently suffering financial losses as a result of the ‘bans’ and this will extend into the new financial year as bookings are often made many months in advance. The uncertainty is bad for these businesses, local employees and will flow through the local economy. The LTOs may have legal recourse regarding financial losses.
The Bans
There is a narrative that the climbing is prohibited in the SPAs because it apparently says so in the 2003 Management Plan. The ACAV has reviewed the legislation, case law and other documents and are concerned that the prohibition on climbing, with the exception of the 8 focus sites, has not been executed lawfully. This was posed to PV by the ACAV, with no immediate answer from PV. Currently the ACAV are not encouraging climbers to return to climbing in the SPAs. Climbers, as a respectful user group, are currently respecting these ‘bans’.
The reason for the specific bans at the 8 focus sites was ‘potential for Harm’ under the acts listed in the following section. Note, potential, not actual. Actual Harm has been caused by other users of the Park in other locations, yet PV have not excluded these user groups!
Cultural Heritage and Traditional Owners
Climbers have been demonised with the general public, and very importantly among Traditional Owners (TOs) after some very poor media in February and March. The ACAV raised this as a significant stumbling block in ongoing discussions with the TOs. These are the bridges we are trying to rebuild. The complexities of discussions with the TOs were raised with Aboriginal Victoria and guidance from them will help to bridge this unfortunate gap.
The overriding legislative instruments are very powerful (the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 and the Aboriginal Heritage Regulations 2018). They provide an awkward paradox for land managers as they cannot accurately tell you where you cannot do something as they would then be revealing sites on a secret register (the same goes for specific rare flora and fauna sites).
Climbing Management Plan and Instruments for Victorian Crown Land
The ACAV brought to the table the success that has been achieved in other countries around the world by climbing access groups in developing specific climber initiated management plans. We impressed on the meeting that these types of management plans working within the legislative framework provides certainty for land managers and climbers as a single reference source from which management plans and future legislative instruments can be developed. The government attendees were surprised to hear that climbing has been successfully managed, by climbers, around the world.
Communications
The VCC raised the issue of the communication plan that was revealed by an FOI request, indicating that climbers were to be treated on an INFORM-only basis. PV assured us that this was a mistake and that the status of climbing advocacy representatives would be raised to a fully collaborative position with climbers able to steer and influence appropriately in the area of climbing. We look forward to some written confirmation of this. The ACAV emphasised on the attending government representatives, that with faith in governments at such a low ebb, publicly stating one thing and having internal documents reveal the opposite results in a loss of faith and rightly caused outrage in the climbing community.
Media surrounding the bans has had a negative impact on all parties, and has also revealed various distortions of the truth. Climbers reputation as a user group has been severely damaged by this, particularly with the TOs. Parks Victoria have mostly withdrawn from that space and are very carefully managing the media from their perspective and suggested the ACAV join the media strategy. The ACAV declined the request to participate in a joint media strategy with Parks Victoria.
Where to from here
There are still a lot of unanswered questions about current and future climbing access. Getting straight answers is difficult and bureaucrats are unlawfully stonewalling current FOI requests.
The ACAV is drafting a formal written submission to the Minister (Lily D’Ambrosio) to request (under section 14 of the Parks Victoria Act) that the minister directs Parks Victoria to:
The ACAV will be engaging to the best of our ability with TO groups and will engage with Aboriginal Victoria to further this important dialogue.
The ACAV will continue to work on a statewide climbing management document based on successful models from Europe and North America.
The ACAV will continue its research to understand the legal mechanism which will underpin security of climbing access for future generations of climbers .
The ACAV will work with the VCC in a cooperative and wholehearted manner to combine and strengthen resources in the area of rock climbing advocacy.
ACAV interim committee
Australian Climbing Association (Vic) Inc. 