Access For All held it’s AGM last Sunday (August 25 2024) at the Servicemens Club in Braidwood.

The guest speaker was Marc Henrickx from Berowra, president of a group called Save our Summits.

Marc delivered a strong message about loss of public access, involving the closure permanently to everyone except Aboriginal people by the NSW Department of Planning and Environment’s National Parks and Wildlife Services (NPWS) after it declared Mt Warning to be ‘a place of sacred ceremonies linked to traditional law and custom,’ particular to the Bundjalung nation.

Mt Warning in Northern NSW is one of the biggest shield volcanoes in the southern hemisphere and is surrounded by breathtakingly beautiful scenery, which has drawn visitors to it since the mid-1800s.  Since then, bushwalkers who have made the difficult climb to the summit have been rewarded with superb views of subtropical forests and the coast.

Marc stated, “there are conflicting indigenous claims. Before she died in 2007, Marlene Boyd, an elder of the Ngarakwal people, gave an interview in which she stated that Mt Warning had nothing to do with the Bundjalung nation but rather the traditional custodians of Mt Warning were the Ngarakwal/Nganduwal people”.

What is more, she was very happy for everyone to climb the mountain, stating emphatically that, “I do not oppose the public climbing of Mt Warning [Wollumbin]- how can the public experience the spiritual significance of this land if they do not climb the summit and witness creation!”

As Marc pointed out the Bundjalung nation are not the traditional owners. Mt Warning has always been part of the Ngarakwal/Nganduwal people. National Parks Management have accepted a flawed claim, resulting lack of access to public land.

Understandably, the banning of non-Aboriginals from this area of outstanding natural beauty has not gone down very well at all with the general public. Significant numbers of whom have continued to climb the summit with admirable impunity.

It has come to light that NPWS has been paying security guards $7,000 per week to keep nonindigenous people away, having spent a total of just over $100,000 since April. A taxpayer-funded government agency has been using tax-payer dollars to keep taxpayers from climbing the mountain.

Marc has recently been fined for climbing the mountain and as he explained on a recent interview on SkyNews he will contest the fine in court. Marc believes the Mt Warning ban is just the beginning. We have already seen others such as The Grampians in Victoria, Uluru in NT and soon the Horizontal Falls in WA.

What worries Access for All is that the Minns government has adopted the policy of the previous liberal government that is to give all the NSW parks to Aboriginal groups that live within the vicinity of those parks, including land titles and management rights. That involves 10% of the state and 43% of the coast. The Government has further stated that it expects to have handed everything back in the next 15 to 20 years.

What future claims will affect access to National Parks by the public?

ACCESS FOR ALL Inc.®

Locked Bag 10, Braidwood NSW  2622.                        
Website: www.accesssforall.asn.au

The following statements from Access for All Inc® are in response to a National Parks & Wildlife Service document titled Development of a new Aboriginal joint management model for NSW national parks, published by Environment and Heritage Group Department of Planning and Environment NSW, July 2022.

Access for All has serious concerns about the implications of the proposed model for management of National Parks in NSW as well as the announced process of consultation. Some key statements are provided below but in order to fully understand this response, it is necessary to read the published 13page document.  

“Land title is central…Accordingly it is anticipated the new model will provide for the potential handback of title to all NSW national parks- covering nearly 10% of the state subject to the land being leased back…for its continued use and management as a national park.”

“[It] will be a significant practical step towards Closing the Gap targets.”

“In developing a model that provides for the title to be held by Aboriginal people, the new model will seek alignment with native title processes and outcomes”.

Our concerns with this proposal are as significant as they are alarming.

• NSW Government under Department of Environment currently manage national parks on behalf of all NSW citizens including indigenous. Their first responsibility is to provide best practise to manage the parks.
• Under the National Parks and Wildlife Act there are responsibilities on NPWS to manage Aboriginal sites appropriately, but NSW National Parks should not be used by Government to placate the guilt of colonial settlement.
• The aim of the proposal is “to develop a model that will deliver a range of significant social and economic benefits for Aboriginal people”. While most Australians would support such assistance it is not right to gift exclusive title to one group of Australians and then rent it back.
• NSW Government should ensure the best qualified people with the most relevant skills are employed to manage and operate the parks for the preservation of natural and cultural heritage. In many cases this would Aboriginal people.
• Employing Aboriginal people would be favourably viewed and accepted by most citizens. Training and professional education opportunities could be offered.
• The land does not need to be gifted for ongoing “Implementing fire management….Implementing feral animal control, threatened species protection and other on-ground land management”.
• The model’s consultation process intends to undermine an established existing system without adequate planning or consultation and will cause dissidence from other stake holders.
• The document is presented as ‘beyond discussion’, a fait accompli, with only its implementation to be discussed, that transfer of title of some sort to Aboriginal communities is required.
• This model does not identify transparency, or accountability. Stage 1 and 2 should be inclusive of all stakeholders, who use and value our national parks not only the "Custodians Network" and Aboriginal communities. The consultation Stage 3 is too late as it refers to "refining a proposed model and releasing for public comment".
• According to the document currently 2.2% of the national park estate is held under title to Aboriginal people. NSW Government should undertake performance audits to provide insight as to agreement performances, outcomes and impact on stakeholders.
• The document acknowledges a range of complex issues, including the appropriate mechanism for identifying Aboriginal owners for each national park. How does that work?

These comments are exclusive to the implementation of best practice for management of national parks in NSW. Access for All supports Closing the Gap but does not support excluding ALL Australians from ownership of public lands.

Note: The above statement was sent to the NSW Parliament in August 2022 following adoption by the AFA Committee.

Developing a new model for Aboriginal joint management of NSW national parks

The existing joint management framework within NPWS has developed gradually over the past 25 years. As a result, there are differences between the 34 existing joint management agreements in terms of the rights, responsibilities and level of self-determination afforded to Custodians regarding land ownership, decision-making and economic opportunities.
A range of concerns have emerged in recent years from the Custodians Network, other Aboriginal community members and within NPWS around the inequities between and within the agreement types. Concerns have also been raised about the limitations under the existing arrangements on Custodian autonomy and leadership in managing Country and Aboriginal cultural heritage.

The complete report can be viewed here

Between November 2022 and February 2023, the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) convened consultations with First Nations people across NSW on the development of a new joint management model for the entire NSW national parks estate. These consultations were the first phase of a three staged consultation process to develop a new model. Consultations included a range of stakeholders including people from Local Aboriginal Land Councils, Elders, traditional owner groups, existing joint management boards, Aboriginal organisations, as well as individual community members.

A copy of the complete report can be viewed here

An issue that discussed at the 2023 Access for All AGM (27/8/2023) is the development of a proposal to hand more management of NSW National Parks to various Indigenous organizations.

As you may know, NSW politicians have long range plans to transfer ALL National Parks to Aboriginal ownership.  This represents 10% of the state!  The current document can be found on our website HERE

The Department of the Environment website has a page explaining the process
https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/parks-reserves-and-protected-areas/park-management/community-engagement/aboriginal-joint-management-model-consultation

The actual PDF document (5.5Mb) can be downloaded here:
https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/-/media/OEH/Corporate-Site/Documents/Parks-reserves-and-protected-areas/Aboriginal-joint-management/aboriginal-joint-management-model-220300.pdf

Part of our Charter is to maintain ACCESS for ALL to our National Parks, and in the past Access for All(R)  has worked hard to establish close relationships with senior National Parks’ personnel.

Further details on this development can be found on the "Issues" page of the website.

Update: March 17 2024: Some further details on this important issue is contained in the AFA 2024 Autumn Newsletter - Download the PDF HERE

Considerable progress has been made within the Aboriginal Community with this new initiative.

The project is likely to have very broad implications for users of our National Parks many of whom will have no idea of the concept or how fast it is happening.

For more information about the process which comes under the NSW Department of Planning and Environment can be found HERE (opens in a new tab).

There has been two newsletters published by the Aboriginal Joint Management (AJM) Unit - January 2023 (PDF 4.7Mb) and December 2023 (PDF 7.8Mb)

Considerable work has been done at the NSW Government level to create a new model of management of our National Parks.

This new model aims to increase the involvement of our indigenous people.

Some aspects of the proposed model looks at the question of ownership of the lands where our Parks are located. These "legal" matters may create issues and differences in the perception of the use of our Parks.

A copy of the proposed model can be viewed HERE

Some local areas - such as in NE NSW at Mt Warning, the approach may result in differences in cultural values to what we have become accustomed to. See HERE

Access for All will be discussing these plans at its AGM and General Meeting on Sunday 27 August 2023 at 10am down at the Araluen Pub.