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Mt Warning: no decision in 2025 -Merry Christmas from Minister Sharpe

NPWS have provided the following media statement about the "temporary" closure of the Mt Warning summit track:

The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has extended the closure of the Wollumbin summit track to allow additional time for careful consideration of the site’s future.

For more than a decade, access to the Wollumbin summit track has presented complex challenges. The NSW Government is committed to enhancing consultation processes for the future management of the track.

NPWS acknowledges the uncertainty the process has caused the community and businesses. For Aboriginal people there is a deep cultural and spiritual significance of Wollumbin, which is a declared Aboriginal place. Ensuring that all stakeholders, particularly Aboriginal custodians, are meaningfully engaged is critical to any future decisions about the site.

For community, council and business the future of this site is also important.

NPWS will continue to maintain and develop visitation opportunities in the region to support local communities and their economies. This includes Nightcap, Mount Jerusalem and Border Ranges national parks and the new Gidjuum Gulganyi Walk.

Wollumbin National Park is open, with just the summit track and summit remaining closed. The current closure will now be in place until 31 December 2025.



It is an understatement to say the bushwalking and local business community are disappointed with the decision to extend the "temporary" closure of the Mt Warning summit track for another 12 months. It appears the incompetence of NPWS in managing the park for all Australians will continue into 2025 and it seems no resolution will occur now until 2026 or later. 
The track will have been closed for 5 years in March 2025 and there has been more than enough time for the Minister to complete discussions and make a decision that benefits the entire NSW community and not just a handful of activists. 
The economic damage caused by the unreasonable decision to close the track continues to impact the local community, and with this new extension to the closure, the time has come to consider formal legal proceedings to sue the government for compensation for financial losses experienced and harm done to the emotional wellbeing of those that consider climbing an important part of their cultural heritage. 
NPWS have completely missed the opportunity to reopen the track in Easter 2025 to coincide with repairs being done to the Mt Warning Road. Minor repairs to the summit track and reinstallation of the summit chain could have been programmed during 2024 and the mountain could have been fully operational by easter 2025. 
The extension is particularly unreasonable given minutes of meetings held between NPWS and the Wollumbim Consultative Group reveal that a proposal that would have seen the summit track opened on a fee and permit system was unanimously endorsed by the WCG and NPWS in 2016 and 2018. It seems a compromise solution is possible. Why wasn't this proposal followed at the time?  
Mount Warning National Park should be defunded if the public cannot access the summit based on their ancestry and sex. 
 

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