The NSW Budget has allocated $130 million to invest in keeping the state’s national parks ‘safe, accessible and ready for record numbers of families to enjoy the great outdoors’.
The new investment will help renew ageing infrastructure, upgrade facilities and improve accessibility across the national parks network.
It will support works on walking tracks, campgrounds, picnic areas, amenities, lookouts, roads, visitor centres and more.
It will also help rebuild and strengthen infrastructure damaged by floods, storms and landslips, improving resilience to natural disasters and helping much-loved visitor destinations reopen more quickly after extreme weather.
NSW national parks are growing in popularity.
Minister for the Environment, Penny Sharpe, said the work was especially important at a time when household budgets were under pressure and visitor numbers were rising sharply.
“NSW national parks are booming and it’s easy to see why,” she said. “They are some of the most beautiful, accessible and affordable places for families to spend time together … this investment is about backing the visitor facilities people want to use, so more visitors can enjoy memorable and affordable days out in nature.”
NSW’s network of around 900 parks and reserves hosted a record 65.6 million visits last year. They are also a major driver of regional tourism, generating $19.5 billion in economic activity a year and supporting more than 62,000 jobs, with most benefits flowing to rural and regional areas.
By creating iconic new parks and investing in existing infrastructure, the Minns Labor Government is helping attract more visitors, support local tourism businesses and strengthen regional economies.
Other investments in NSW national parks recently has seen cash spent on projects including the Great Koala National Park, new parks in Outback NSW, new multi-day walks near Sydney, Lithgow and Dorrigo, and construction of visitor centres at Kamay Botany Bay and Dorrigo.
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Good to see some of the parks have needed.updating , the fees we pay are for park inprovments we are told when, paying but realy see them,but its good to hear and hopfully see.,
Hopefully they’re not doing this to help justify the outrageous campground price increases proposed last year.
Wish Victoria would do more to make ours better for seniors, don’t mind paying if facilities are there and maintained.
I generally find national parks over priced for what you get. I prefer to stay in REAL caravan parks and get my moneys worth. After all, National Parks are paid for by us, why are we paying again?
The road into my latest NP stay was bad enough to rip my not-cheap personal number plate nearly off my vehicle…fortunately one burglar-proof bolt kept it hanging!
When I checked the NP notice board for an alternate route out, it named the road contrary to the sign-post at the entry, visible from the board itself!! Plus : its turn-offs were incorrect!
I agree with Greg Mannings comment below…our taxes paid for NPs, why must we pay again once we’ve retired?!!
As a kid, some 50 years ago, we used to go to the national parks office to get a free camping permit so we could camp in the national parks. The rangers would occasionally come by and check that we were doing the right thing and have a chat with us. We never had any problems with them, but my recent (two years ago) experience found a totally different sort of ranger, making us move because we were a couple of metres from our designated spot, even though we were the only ones there. I miss the good old rangers.