Deadline For Crown Land Camping
Monday is the final opportunity for the public to help Victorian farmers avoid a potential nightmare.
The public submission period closes for input into the regulations around camping on river front crown land that is licensed by a farmer or landholder.
The Parks and Crown Land Amendment Bill allows people to access the land for camping, fishing and outdoor activities.
These access changes impact 10,000 licences and an additional 17,000kms of Victorian riverfront.
Member for Western Victoria, Bev McArthur, says the innocent looking Bill aimed at ‘happy campers’ is a disaster in waiting for farmers who hold these licences.
“The Bill exposes farmers and landholders to campers who will be allowed to stay on the land for 28 days. They can pack up and return for another 28 days – and on it can go.
“It effectively legalises squatting,” Mrs McArthur said.
“Campers can go onto the farmland without a farmer’s permission.
“They can defaecate within 50 metres of a waterway, light campfires without a farmer’s knowledge, have pets, and potentially bring in biosecurity risks into sensitive farmland.”
The Andrews Government has proposed an App that would be used by campers to identify where they are.
“Since these draft regulations came out, I have heard from people who are aware of vagrants staying on this kind of licensed land.
“They potentially have weapons, their campsites look more like a dumpsite, faecal contamination is obvious, vicious dogs are kept with them, and farmers are rightly scared to confront them.
“Does the Government genuinely think these people are going to tap into an App to let police and others know where they are?
“When these regulations come in, farmers will not be able to do anything about this.
“Stories have also been told about fence lines being cut for ease of access, exposing farmers and landholders to stock loss,” she said.
However, one of the main concerns is campfires not being extinguished properly.
“Under these regulations, how can a farmer go on a Summer holiday during a fire period, knowing that strangers can come onto the land and light fires and leave?
“It’s an enormous risk that this Government clearly is incapable of understanding.
“These are unacceptable and dangerous plans.”
The enforcement of rules – such as rubbish removal, fire safety, 28-day limits – will be hard to enforce given much of this riverfront land is in remote areas.
“The Government claims that its Fisheries and Parks officers will police the rules – a laughable suggestion given they can barely manage their current responsibilities.”
Mrs McArthur has urged the public to provide feedback via https://engage.vic.gov.au/regulated-watercourse-land-regulations
The Regulated Watercourse Land Regulations will become effective on 1st September 2021.
17 April 2021