Election 2025: Rock climbers fear bans will remain at Victoria’s Mt Arapiles

Rock climbers trapped in Australia’s biggest land access row at Mt Arapiles are becoming increasingly pessimistic about their future.

Climber John Fischer on Castle Crag at Mt Arapiles in Victoria. Picture: David Geraghty

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Rock climbers trapped in Australia’s biggest land access row are ­becoming increasingly pessimistic about whether changes will be made to the Mt Arapiles bans due to a “fundamentally flawed ­process”.

With a federal poll looming, Climbing Victoria has told its community it is concerned about the process undertaken by the Victorian government to address the impasse. The Australian understands that senior government ­officials have been dealing directly with the Barengi Gadjin Land Council over whether the number of closed climbing routes planned for Mt Arapiles in western Victorian can be cut.

Climbers have proposed ­options where most climbing routes can be protected at the same time as ensuring cultural heritage is not damaged.

Despite this, the government has not made clear how it intends to deal with the impasse at one of the world’s most revered climbing locations, about 3½ hours’ drive from Melbourne.

Climbing Victoria has sent an update to its members lamenting a lack of feedback from Parks Victoria. “Climbing Victoria representatives have so far attended four working group meetings ­regarding the draft management plan for Mount Arapiles / Dyurrite. These meetings are chaired by the interim Parks Victoria CEO,’’ it said. “We are becoming increasingly concerned that there has been very limited progress in these meetings, and PV appear to be continuing with a fundamentally flawed process.

“We have been given little new information. We have been ­advised that PV is waiting on an ‘independent’ review of the public submissions. It is unknown what the next steps might be or what the time frames are between now and a finalised plan being published.

“Climbing Victoria has provided a range of information in good faith but has received very ­little back in return from PV.

“Included in the information we have provided is a package of transparent, principle-based solutions which would still allow for all cultural heritage sites to be protected while enabling climbing to co-exist with minimal restrictions. We have been asked by Victorian government representatives not to make these documents public.’’

Climbing Victoria says a robust and durable set of principles need to be agreed upon. It says the protections need to be implemented in a way that complies with the law. “Without this, any decisions on what is open or closed to climbing is susceptible to continued political and bureaucratic influences and will inevitably be subject to challenge,’’ it said.

A Parks Victoria spokesman said all submissions to the Arapiles draft management plan were being reviewed.

“A feedback report will be published on Engage Victoria after (the) independent review,” he said.

BGLC did not respond to a request for comment.

Climbing Victoria spokesman Mike Rockell said he did not ­expect a result before the May 3 federal election and that process was important to the outcome.

Mr Rockell said climbers were in limbo because the process ­appeared likely to drag on and that there was now “a great holding pattern”.

Since Parks Victoria chief executive Matthew Jackson left the job last year amid an outcry over the organisation’s behaviour, interim CEO Graeme “Gus” Dear has attempted to consult with stakeholders, as required under its formal statement of obligations.

The issue of rock climbing in Victoria has become a years-long saga that has undermined the ­state government since 2019.

Mr Jackson was being paid more than $500,000 a year, slightly more than the Premier, but fell out with the government amid the wrangling over rock climbing at Arapiles and the way the bans were also imposed at the nearby Grampians National Park.

The 2021 Parks Victoria obligations clearly state the importance of consultation with communities and affected groups.

Parks Victoria announced last year plans to close 63 per cent of climbing routes at Mount Arapiles/Dyurrite, with a potential permanent ban on more than 54 per cent in the future.