Great to be able to discuss the ban once more with Andrew Bolt. Interview available through the link below.
I had prepared for some discussion about the role of media in reporting of the Climb but we ended up speaking about different issues. Some of this below...
#Nopressfreedom at Ayers Rock
In a week when the media have been highlighting issues affecting Press Freedom one thing that perhaps hasn’t really been discussed that much is the media’s ability to self censor itself, particularly soft left media outlets, from asking the hard questions on sensitive issues. And Climbing Ayers Rock is certainly one of those issues. Not a single Australian based reporter I spoke with over the last two years was prepared to take on Parks Australia’s draconian media restrictions and interview people at the summit monument or climb and take their own photos of the remarkable World Heritage Listed views that people go up there to see. It’s been quite surreal. I think North Korea probably has freer access to its Natural wonders.
To mark the death of climbing I submitted a notice to the Sydney Morning Herald. Here’s a version of it as it appears on the Quadrant website.
We can look at other examples of misinformation from Parks Australia. They tell us 37 people have died on the rock, but they don’t provide the overall risk content that with over 7 million past climbers this shows that for people under 50 the risks of climbing to the summit are the same as flying to the rock from Sydney. The risk for people over 5 is about the dame as driving there.
They contend that less than 20% of people want to climb the rock, but they don’t tell you they keep it closed about 80% of the time, or that based on their own data when you look at those rare days when the climb was available from dawn to dusk that on average 44% of visitors climbed.
They claim there are significant environmental issues with the climb but fail to tell us how they handle the much greater issues of waste from people completing the base walk.
The level of misinformation from a government agency is remarkable and yet there has been little interest from ABC or Fairfax or The Guardian in doing any digging. And so members of the public who rely on those biased self-censoring sources who don’t subscribe to more informed and balanced news outlets like The Australian, or Quadrant or Skynews are left with a completely false impression of the significance of our iconic rock climb.
I had prepared for some discussion about the role of media in reporting of the Climb but we ended up speaking about different issues. Some of this below...
#Nopressfreedom at Ayers Rock
In a week when the media have been highlighting issues affecting Press Freedom one thing that perhaps hasn’t really been discussed that much is the media’s ability to self censor itself, particularly soft left media outlets, from asking the hard questions on sensitive issues. And Climbing Ayers Rock is certainly one of those issues. Not a single Australian based reporter I spoke with over the last two years was prepared to take on Parks Australia’s draconian media restrictions and interview people at the summit monument or climb and take their own photos of the remarkable World Heritage Listed views that people go up there to see. It’s been quite surreal. I think North Korea probably has freer access to its Natural wonders.
To mark the death of climbing I submitted a notice to the Sydney Morning Herald. Here’s a version of it as it appears on the Quadrant website.
Now it was rejected. Didn't meet the guidelines. You’ll note the similarities to another notice about the death of English Cricket. And this is to emphasise that the Loss of the climb is a great loss of Australian Cultural Heritage. And this is shared heritage of Aboriginal Owners and non-Aboriginal Australians and indeed other cultures from around the world. Parks Australia and the Board have gone to great lengths to hide the shared cultural history at the rock. This is their version of that history:
Apparently, according to Parks Australia "Anangu never Climb Uluru". But we know that history includes the fact that past owners climbed and were happy to share the climb with visitors. In fact the first guides were local Aboriginal men, and you may recall you broadcast that remarkable footage from the 1940s restored by Lutheran Archives that showed Tiger Tjalkalyirri and Mitjenkeri Mick climbing the rock with two white visitors.
You’d think ABC might be interested in screening that on Australian Story. Perhaps those facts are a little inconvenient. Sadly Andrew, there is nothing in official Park Literature to indicate any of these events happened. If I had not done Parks job for them and documented that wonderful history of the climb, none of this would be known. Parks Australia have used Orwell’s 1984 as its public relations manual but when you are looking sweep history under the carpet what better guide is there? Indeed I argue that in its current management plan that includes no mention of the attitudes and actions of past owners, Parks Australia mislead Parliament. If politicians had of been presented with all the facts back in 2010 when this plan was passed and they were aware of the complex picture I doubt they would have allowed those ridiculous closure provisions to pass.
We can look at other examples of misinformation from Parks Australia. They tell us 37 people have died on the rock, but they don’t provide the overall risk content that with over 7 million past climbers this shows that for people under 50 the risks of climbing to the summit are the same as flying to the rock from Sydney. The risk for people over 5 is about the dame as driving there.
They contend that less than 20% of people want to climb the rock, but they don’t tell you they keep it closed about 80% of the time, or that based on their own data when you look at those rare days when the climb was available from dawn to dusk that on average 44% of visitors climbed.
They claim there are significant environmental issues with the climb but fail to tell us how they handle the much greater issues of waste from people completing the base walk.
The level of misinformation from a government agency is remarkable and yet there has been little interest from ABC or Fairfax or The Guardian in doing any digging. And so members of the public who rely on those biased self-censoring sources who don’t subscribe to more informed and balanced news outlets like The Australian, or Quadrant or Skynews are left with a completely false impression of the significance of our iconic rock climb.
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