Pensioners without vehicles lose free entry to National Parks

Environment Minister Matt Kean has been urged to fix a loophole that has led to the elderly and disabled losing free National Parks passes

People with disabilities, pensioners, and veterans are losing their free access to NSW National Parks if they don’t have a car under a policy imposed by Environment Minister Matt Kean’s department.

As part of changes that quietly came into effect in April, concession passes to visit National Parks were linked to cars, not people, as part of a “digitisation” process.

The change meant pensioners who don’t drive, or don’t have a car registered to their home, lost access to free passes to enter National Parks.

Disability carers also lost their free access to 45 National Parks which charge entry fees.

Under the change, people eligible for free Parks passes now need to pay if they don’t have a car of their own, or a vehicle registered to their address.

That means disability carers who used to be able to take their clients to National Parks for free are being forced to pay.

Chatswood pensioners Michael and Maureen Dignam are angry because Matt Kean's department has taken away their free National Parks passes in a bid to digitise the system. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Aged care pensioners are also being forced to cough up the $12 entry fee if they don’t live at a house with a car.

Labor’s Environment spokeswoman Penny Sharpe accused Mr Kean of preventing the state’s vulnerable from accessing National Parks.

“National Parks should be accessible for everyone,” she said.

“This decision makes it harder for those who can least afford it.”

“The decision makes for a very poor Christmas for those that want to see our parks and Matt Kean should fix it,” she said.

Chatswood resident Maureen Dignam, whose husband previously got free access to National Parks, said the policy needs to be fixed.

“Every time a carer or a loved one takes somebody for an outing, which they deserve to have, they’ve got to pay full price,” she said.

She said her husband Michael is being deprived of the ability to go to the local National Park because he doesn’t drive a car.

“The older you get, the more things that are taken away from you and I believe that any pensioner should be entitled to (free National Parks access),” she said.

Environment Minister Matt Kean said he was “concerned” about the matter.

“I have asked (National Parks and Wildlife Service) to look into these matters to make sure our fee arrangements are fair and equitable,” he said.