Boom in nature tourism

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Multi-day walks are springing up in National Parks across NSW in response to the booming appetite for the outdoors but not everyone is happy.

Transcript

00:00We're off on a hike in the Blue Mountains with regular bushwalker Matthew Crompton.

00:16The thing he loves most about living in Sydney is its proximity to the bush.

00:22You go an hour in any direction and you can be in really amazing and quite unspoiled nature.

00:28But in recent times many of his favourite walks have been off limits.

00:33In many cases tracks have been closed for two years, two and a half years, three years

00:37or more and there's a sense that the maintenance and that resilience of land management isn't

00:43keeping up.

00:46So Ursula we're just approaching this sort of major landslip on the Golden Stairs track.

00:51David Crust has been with the National Parks and Wildlife Service for over 30 years.

00:57He says climate change is rewriting the rules.

01:01We've had this really challenging environment over the last four years with fires and then

01:06floods and floods and floods.

01:08Some of these tracks we've had to repair three times.

01:12In this case the track had been closed as a precaution.

01:16So fortunately there was nobody here.

01:18You know if there had been I think there's a real potential that people would have been

01:23killed here.

01:25With growing demand for nature tourism, balancing public access with public safety is a major

01:32challenge.

01:33It's Australia's most visited national park with almost six and a half million people

01:40coming here every year and for most the big attraction is a chance to get out in the wild.

01:47The relatively recent cost of living pressures have meant that families in particular are

01:51looking for opportunities for family friendly good value activities.

01:57Over the past year more than $10 million has been spent on the Grand Clifftop Walk, an

02:03easily accessible two day walk designed for the mainstream tourism market.

02:09But some are critical of the priority being given to tourist friendly attractions.

02:14The Grand Clifftop Walk is nice but it's not in the middle of this UNESCO World Heritage

02:20area, it's not out in the bush and a lot of it is on paved suburban streets.

02:24The walk though is proving popular with tourists.

02:28Visitor numbers are up 30% since it opened in March.

02:32The Grand Clifftop Walk has attracted an amazing new walker.

02:36It's somebody who's thinking well I've always wanted to do a multi-day walk but perhaps

02:39a little bit nervous gives them that option to come up here and give it a go.

02:43The booming appetite for the outdoors is increasingly attracting commercial attention.

02:50Just west of here is a conservation area known as the Gardens of Stone.

02:55Work is underway on new walking tracks, picnic areas and campsites.

03:01Part of this process I guess was about helping to make a significant contribution to the

03:07visitor economy for Lithgow, helping Lithgow to be a better place for the transition away

03:12from mining and coal production.

03:15But there's controversy over a proposal to grant a lease to a private tourism operator

03:21to build cabins for the luxury market.

03:24We don't want to sell the natural environment, we want to enjoy the natural environment and

03:30it is a real poverty mindset to see the place that we are in and think only what it can

03:36be sold for.

03:37A decision on whether the development will go ahead is expected by the end of the year.

03:46Hello, hello.

03:52Environment Minister Penny Sharp, welcome to Stateline.

03:56As we've just heard national parks are increasingly being targeted for tourism development.

04:02Are you in favour of giving commercial operators leases to build accommodation on public land

04:08or should national parks be for everyone?

04:10What I'm in favour of is our national parks being for everyone and with as many people

04:14able to access them as they can.

04:17I want to see them be really the best in the world when it comes to conservation, which

04:22is their primary purpose, but I want them to be places that people can go and visit

04:26and enjoy and be with nature, undertake recreational activities and just spend time enjoying these

04:33very special places.

04:34Isn't the whole idea of a national park to protect the land and the species that live

04:39there from development and isn't allowing commercial development in effect privatising

04:44a piece of the national park?

04:45We have a range of different activities that are undertaken in parks.

04:49I think there's space for people to experience these parks, but I think it's also a very

04:53fine balance to make sure that public accessibility remains, which it will no matter what we do.

04:59Turning to another matter, industry is complaining about long delays in the approval of renewable

05:04projects in New South Wales.

05:06What is your government doing to speed up that process?

05:08Well, we're doing everything that we can.

05:10We've made the delivery of the Renewable Energy Roadmap a government-wide priority, so I'm

05:14working really closely with the Minister for Planning on the guidelines to speed up approvals.

05:19We've started to see approvals coming through the system.

05:22We've approved three wind farms where we hadn't had anything approved for over two years.

05:27We're also about to turn our attention to consumer energy resources, rooftop solar,

05:32EVs, batteries.

05:33All of it's got a role to play as we see the exit of coal-fired power.

05:37As Environment Minister, how concerned are you by the discovery of elevated levels of

05:42PFAS chemicals in a dam that supplies drinking water to the greater Sydney area?

05:48What reassurances can you give that Sydney's drinking water is safe?

05:52I'm very concerned about it.

05:53I am unfortunately not surprised in relation to PFAS's ubiquity in our environment.

06:00It's been known for some time, and we're finding it all over the place.

06:04We're taking action to phase PFAS out over time, and we've got new legislation that's

06:09just been put in place.

06:10But to go back to your question around drinking water, the drinking water is safe.

06:14We're obviously undertaking more testing, and that's ongoing.

06:18Minister, thanks for joining us.

06:20Thanks.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended