Mt Warning security - NPWS blowing $7000 per week

I asked Hon Mark Latham if he could ask some questions of the new Environment Minister Penny Sharpe about the costs of securtity at Mt Warning. The answer below.

It turns out NPWS are forking over $7K per week for security at the carpark to prevent people from exercising their right to climb to the summit. The estimated costs of repair of the track and replacing the chain can be reasonable be estimated to be around $150000. Though Government procurement practises will probably push this up by a factor of 2 or 3 (there's efficency for you!). So since April NPWS have wasted the amount of money that could have been used to repair and reopen the summit track.

A few years ago cars in the carpark at the base of the walk were routinely vandalised with tyres slashed and windows smashed yet NPWS did absolutley nothing about improving security of park patrons. Now they are employing guards to prevent patrons from climbing. Its clear from their actions who NPWS regard as the "real"criminals with money being wasted to stop visitors using their park.'

Our government has been taken over by activist bureaucrats who have little regard for our democracy.

In the meantime there are now real threats on the future of public access in the Glass House mountains across the border in QLD, with Mt Tibrogargan and Mt Beerwah under genuine threat of imminent permanent closure as Queensland Public servants ditch the Enlightenment and tip their head to mystisicm and superstition.

Stand up for your rights!

Mark's questions and the Minister's response appear below:

121 - Environment - MT WARNING NATIONAL PARK

Latham, Mark to the Minister for Energy, Minister for Climate Change, Minister for the Environment, and Minister for Heritage

(1) Can the Minister please advise if the National Parks and Wildlife Service has stationed security guards at Mt. Warning National Park?

(2) If so:

(a) Which security company is providing this security service?

(i) What was the tender process through which their services were obtained?

(b)How many security guards are employed on site?

(d) What is the weekly cost of stationing these security guards on site?

(e) Why is security needed?

(2) How much did the removal of the temporary council gate located on Mt. Warning, three kilometres from the Breakfast Creek carpark in February 2023, cost?

(3) What were the installation costs of the replacement steel barriers across the park entrance at the National Park boundary?

Answer -

I am advised:

(1) Security has been engaged to implement the park closure in Wollumbin National Park.

(a) Safe Security Services has been engaged.

(i) Safe Security Services was engaged after a Request for Quotation from a registered small to medium regional enterprise.

(b) For personal safety, two guards must be on site given the remote location.

(c)The company is engaged on a casual hourly basis.

(d) Approximately $7000 per week.

(e) Security was engaged to ensure public safety while the park remains under repair and to ensure the current closure of the Summit Walking Track and the Wollumbin Aboriginal Place is maintained. It was an immediate response to increased attempts to illegally access the closed park once the barrier across Mount Warning Road was removed (1-2 April 2023) and then over the Easter long weekend (7-10 April 2023). Security services have been extended due to significant numbers of people still trying to unlawfully access the site.

(2) There was no cost to the National Parks and Wildlife Service in relation to removing the gate on Mount Warning Road. The temporary gate was removed by Tweed Shire Council as part of maintenance works on the road.

(3) There is no cost for the temporary barriers erected at the park boundary. The temporary safety barriers are owned by the National Parks and Wildlife Service and are used to secure building sites as standard practice.

A permanent NPWS gate has been erected at the park boundary for an estimated cost of $11,500, excluding GST.

Question asked on 29 May 2023 (session 58-1) and published in Questions & Answers Paper No. 15

Answer received on 20 June 2023 and published in Questions & Answers Paper No. 30

News coverage

Courier Mail report: Mt Warning closed: Staggering taxpayer bill for guards to stop walkers

Mount Warning: Aboriginal claims about summit climb are contested

"How can the public experience the spiritual significance of this land if they do not climb the summit and witness creation." Ngaraakwal Elder Marlene Boyd RIP NSW NPWS have the following description about Aboriginal attitudes to people climbing to the summit of Mt Warning on their webpage about the walking track: Wollumbin, which means ‘cloud catcher’ to some Aboriginal People, is a traditional place of cultural law, initiation and spiritual education for the people of the Bundjalung Nation. Under Bundjalung law, only certain people can climb the summit. Out of respect for their law and culture, consider not climbing the summit. These claims, including the very name applied to the mountain, are contested and it seems there is another story that NSW NPWS have not properly acknowledged and have long kept from public attention. We came across this article from the Daily News February 24 2007 about Ngaraakwal Elder Marlene Boyd that makes for interesting reading. It seems

Mt Warning - Summit signing, time capsule

A Mt Warning Visit, summit signing Drove up the long road from Sydney, leaving early to grab a beer at the Mt Warning Hotel at Uki in the afternoon. There's a nice view of the summit from the smoker's deck. The tip of the mountain was catching clouds and then letting them go. I met Roger, a one-legged ex- navy seal and former security guard to Gloria Estafan. He was an interesting bloke, sucking a large Cuban cigar and slamming spiced rum on ice. He had one eye, apparently, he had lost the other blue pearl in a firefight with Somali terrorists in the Persian Gulf. We had a brief discussion of current affairs and the insanity of public parks being closed for no good reason, and vandalism of the tourism industry by a woke broken Bureaucracy - just light conversation. I mentioned I had a mission that might suit him and he agreed to join in. We headed to the Mt Warning Rainforest Caravan Park. Mt Warning from the Mt Warning Hotel Roads around the area are still not repaired from la

Chain and post removed at Mount Warning Summit Walk

The current situation is a disgrace and an insult to Park users and all Australians. The Minister must instigate an independent audit and review of NSW NPWS management of the Park and develop a brighter vision of the Park's future. The walk to the summit of Mt Warning in northern NSW is an iconic experience of the natural world. Views from the summit on a clear day provide an unrivaled vista over the Tweed River Valley, lush rainforests, eroded volcanic landscape and beaches on the coast. They fill visitors with a sense of awe and wonder. From a geological perspective, it is arguably the best-preserved erosion caldera in the world. The 4.4km (8.8km return) track was completed in 1909 but the hike was firmly established as a popular tourist attraction in 1929 with the declaration of the area around the mountain as a National Park. The opening ceremony was attended at the summit by 200 people, some rode horses up the trail. The standard of the early track construction is extreme

Right to Climb

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