For grey nomads who like to explore small and often unformed tracks while they’re travelling in New South Wales, a move by the State Government to streamline crown land management could be very bad news.
There are growing fears that the recent passing of the Crown Land Management Act could lead to a ‘fire sale’ of roads that provide important public access to rivers and reserves.
There are thousands of crown roads across New South Wales, which are owned by the State Government and provide legal access for the public. While many of these tracks are encompassed by farms so they can be sold without issue, some crown roads provide vital access for fishermen and bushwalkers to waterways and travelling stock reserves.
Labor has raised concerns the amendment would allow crown roads to be sold before they were formally closed.
“A lot of recreational fishers have been in touch with my office over recent years talking about crown laneways that they have used on a frequent basis to access a waterway or even a dam, but turn up to find it’s been sold and fenced and access denied,” Shadow Minister for Primary Industries and Lands, Mick Veitch, told the ABC. “We need to make sure that everyone agrees that, yes, it should be sold, or we at least have a process that identifies those that are used by the public, generally, for things such as bushwalking, kayaking, or recreational fishers, so that we can ensure we don’t sell the wrong ones.”
However, the Lands and Forestry Minister Paul Toole has denied the changes were geared toward selling more crown land and said protections would be put in place to ensure roads used by bushwalkers, fishermen and primary producers remained in public hands.
“There are many crown roads across New South Wales and many of these do run through property,” Mr Toole told the ABC. “For a lot of farmers, it may run through the middle of a property and all they are is a paper road … what we have done is actually make the process easier for these farmers to acquire that piece of land.”
· Comment below
In Scotland there is the law “The right to wander” people are allowed to cross owned land to get to a destination. In fact the landowners Erect stepping ladders or gates for this very purpose.
Int the U.K. They did just the opposite and established “Right to Roam” legislation and walking became the biggest pastime in the country as people took the great outdoors