Grampians National Park users threatened with $346,000 fines under cultural heritage laws

Public service investigators from Victoria’s First Peoples-State Relations unit, armed with rare search, seizure and entry powers, are using draconian cultural heritage laws to threaten national park users.

Climbers in the Grampians in Victoria. Picture: Simon Carter

Public service investigators armed with rare search, seizure and entry powers are using draconian cultural heritage laws to threaten Victorian rock climbers and others with heavy fines of more than $346,000 per offence.

Victoria’s First Peoples-State Relations unit is covertly using ­vehicle registrations and other on-the-ground intelligence to decide whether Grampians National Park users should be prosecuted under cultural heritage laws.

A rock climber’s house has twice been visited by a First Peoples unit investigator who works within the Department of Premier and Cabinet, with a direct claim that a vehicle registered in their name has been connected to possible cultural heritage breaches.

Investigator Adam Green claimed that on October 18 the unnamed owner’s vehicle had been identified in multiple alleged offences, which also could potentially be dealt with under the Crimes Act.

This is the most significant move since rock climbing was banned in 2019 in large parts of the Grampians – one of the world’s top locations for the sport’s elite, ­including free climber and Hollywood star Alex Honnold.

Under the state’s Aboriginal Heritage Act, tangible and intangible cultural heritage is protected, with huge fines for anyone interfering with heritage, even if it is invisible.

Parks Victoria has shut down large swathes of the Grampians from access, including to climbers, walkers and campers, allegedly to protect cultural heritage such as rock art. Much of the rock art is ­invisible to the naked eye but ­experts – and rock climbers – accept there is some significant art worth protecting.

The policy, which involves virtually no transparency over the content of the cultural heritage assessments, has largely killed the global rock-climbing industry in the Grampians.

Mr Green works in the First Peoples-State Relations section of DPC, and the department is ultimately controlled by new Premier Jacinta Allan.

A rock climber clings to a cliff face in the Grampians, a world-renowned climbing site in Victoria that is subject to strict heritage laws. Picture: Simon Carter

His letter to the climber, who has sought the help of the Australian Climbing Association Vic­toria, was left after officials twice visited the address.

“I am requesting the name of the person in charge of the above vehicle on specific dates in relations to breaches of the Act,’’ it reads.

“The current maximum penalty exceeds $346,000 for an individual found guilty under section 27 of the Act.’’

Parks Victoria made a series of false or unverifiable claims about rock climbers when it pushed to oust the pursuit from large parts of the Grampians.

This included allegations of vandalism that have never been substantiated, although climbing chalk and bolts are visible in some areas.

ACAV president Mike Tomkins said the Victorian government was now aggressively moving to shut down most of the Grampians to public use.

“It’s pretty horrible it’s happening,’’ he said.

Opposition Aboriginal affairs spokesman Peter Walsh said the legislation lacked the ability for people who are prosecuted to ­appeal.

“There should be the opportunity to appeal,’’ he said.

The government’s bans on climbing – and many other outdoor pursuits – have bewildered some of the world’s best adventurers, including mountaineer Tim Macartney-Snape.

The closures and restrictions – which also have had a flow-on ­effect at nearby Mt Arapiles – have been conducted in consultation with multiple local Indigenous groups.

They have also split the climbing community, although there is broad agreement that visible art should be protected.

Much of the Grampians art has disappeared due to weathering and bushfires, but special X-ray glasses have been used to detect some drawings. Cultural heritage also includes areas where stone tools may have been made or middens, which can contain shells, were located, or gum trees used to create canoes.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

Mr Green says in his letter: “General enquiries are being undertaken to investigate potential breaches, and with this in mind I would like to take this opportunity to request a conversation or email address to communicate with you to determine who may be responsible for a vehicle registered to you on specific dates.

“This vehicle had been identified in multiple alleged offences and is now involved in our investigation,” the letter reads.

It is unclear whether officials have been conducting aerial searches of the Grampians, which is 170,000 hectares, about 250km northwest of Melbourne and one of the state’s key attractions.

Aerial searches would enable investigators to determine where climbers are in what can be dense bush locations.

Mr Green describes himself as an authorised officer or investigator and part of DPC’s First Peoples-State Relations division.

Authorised officers and Aboriginal heritage officers assess compliance with Cultural Heritage Management Plans and Cultural Heritage Permits.

“They also investigate reports of harm to Aboriginal cultural heritage, and help government and land users to avoid impacts to Aboriginal places and objects,’’ the government says.

Climbers are still waiting to see what long-term bans will be imposed at Mt Arapiles, which is near Horsham about 90km from the northern Grampians and is also considered a globally significant rock climbing destination.

The Victorian government was contacted for comment.