Wild reason behind Parks Victoria’s Mt Arapiles closure, rock-climbing ban
The Parks Victoria boss has revealed what led to the controversial decision to close swathes of the Mt Arapiles national park and ban rock climbing.
Victoria
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The head of Parks Victoria has defended the move to close certain areas of Mt Arapiles claiming the agency’s hands were tied because they do not have any say on cultural heritage.
Matthew Jackson, CEO of Parks Victoria appeared before the Inquiry into the 2023-24 financial and performance outcomes, revealing the decision to close parts of the world-renowned park was not up for public consultation due to the state’s cultural heritage laws.
“We don’t consult on cultural heritage,” he told the panel in a fiery exchange.
“What we do is work with the First people’s State Relations who are the regulator … once the asset or the heritage has been notified, it’s registered and then we work through the process to make sure there is no harm into the future and to protect those parts of the heritage.”
Defending the decision to close almost half of the sites surveyed, Mr Jackson said there were still plenty of places left open for people to enjoy and that rock climbers, who have been outraged by the decision can go to other locations such as Mount Buffalo in the state’s north east.
When asked whether the economic impact on local communities near Mt Arapiles was taken into consideration Mr Jackson said that was not the agency’s job.
“We are not here to model the economics, we are a land manager for the Cultural Heritage Act,” he said.
Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action secretary John Bradley, also appeared before the panel outlining that the Cultural Heritage Act was passed by the Victorian parliament and that any decision to register sites of cultural significance sat with the team within the Department of Premier and Cabinet.
The confirmation that Cultural Heritage laws were the driving factor behind the move comes after the State Government dropped the news to climbers on the eve of the Melbourne Cup and the US elections.
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