Sandon River is the right place and the right time according to National Parks to transition to hard roofed accommodation. Save our camping Ground!!

You cannot improve on nature.

Sandon River Camping Ground in clear and present danger from National Parks

 As occupiers of the beach houses at Sandon River, we’ve been advised of NPWS’s intention to make sweeping changes to this camping ground. We can’t stand by and watch as NPWS transition this ground to hard-roofed accommodation. Can you imagine the destruction of the camping area as we have known it for generations, and having it replaced with something resembling a Big Five Holiday Park?

NPWS have a vision that entails turning this paradise into their cash cow.  NPWS have been instructed to generate more income to top up their long pockets. 

NPWS believe “people don’t know how to camp today”, so in their ignorance have decided to pull the rug from under campers, day visitors and house occupiers and transition to “hard roof accommodation” which will generate NPWS additional income.

NPWS can see this change gradually taking place over the coming eighteen months. Let there be absolutely no misunderstanding.  Of all the banners NPWS hold high to Aussies, this plan is purely dollar based and as such, disregards the traditional enjoyment and recreation of the community. Where in NPWS Mission Statement does it expound the Aussie Dollar as its priority?

 It is our understanding that if you’re one of the thousands of day visitors to Sandon, you will find in their destructive plan that you will be forced to park your car along the flat road in, where the long-standing beach houses line the road.  To achieve the new “parking lot” NPWS intend to confiscate the earmarked houses.  The trek to the camping area from that point will be a walk of around one kilometre.

 If you’re a camper, then your presence is under threat by the limited bounds of NPWS vision for revenue generation.  Slowly, but for certain, your freedom and access to the camping groun will disappear as more cabins are built and rented.  All bookings will be made on-line only.  Drinking water and firewood are no longer provided for campers. This is a first move by NPWS to increase their revenue and see the Australian tradition of camping as a thing of the past. 

 If you’re a house occupier, well your days are numbered.  NPWS are justifying their “theft” of these houses by informing us that NPWS OWN THE HOUSES.  With “no fixed option” on the table outlining how we’ll be treated, they have made it clear that they will be renting our houses or removing them: whatever THEY decide is the best form of revenue generation for them.

 In NPWS Statement of Management, under the heading of “Plans of Management”, it reads: “After public consultation, draft plans are adopted by the Environment Minister”.

 MARK SPEAKMAN is NSW Minister for the Environment and Minister for Heritage.  PENNY SHARPE is the Shadow Minister for planning Shadow Minister for the Environment Shadow Minister for Heritage.

 NPWS stated to us that they executed this form of self-righteousness and ruthlessness in the past but it became such a “political hotcake” they were forced to stop.

 But NPWS are back in action and Sandon River is the right place at the right time.

 At the time of our informative meeting with NPWS we asked if we could communicate to them our preferred options and we were told “no, you will get a letter from (name withheld) in 6 months.”  When asked “will we work together to come up with a final proposal, we were told “No.  The proposal will come from (name withheld)”.

 NPWS are still a law until themselves in 2016 and it would appear that any form of consultation from them is in a second language.  NPWS told us they have been working on this plan for “some time”.  We are not invited to converse with them further. They have their Crown Solicitors on board; a fact that we heard a few times during our meeting. We aren’t intimidated and we will not be bullied nor victimised.

 Again, this is another example of the police state that New South Wales has become over the past couple of decades.

 It is not our intention to allow NPWS to bulldoze paradise nor rape our European heritage.  It is our intention to preserve Sandon as it is now and continue to enjoy this part of Australia as we all have done as visitors, holiday makes and campers for many, many, years past. It should be NPWS intention to accommodate our wishes and direct their concerns to the natural care of a park that they have allowed to become shabby by past standards.

 Hands off Sandon River Camping Grounds NPWS! And if we must, then bring on the hot cakes! Are you with us?