WA Camping & Caravaning Act

Cheers for this!
Now I don't know much about this sort of thing but the section 3.4 looked a bit sus.
What I get from this is that they are going to try to make it illegal to free-camp, primarily because it will do a caravan park out of money.

Have a look people and tell me if I am reading this wrong before I make an ass of myself submitting something. (submissions must be in by 23 November)

Copied from the PDF on that site above.

3.4 Where People May Camp
Regulations 10 and 11
Regulation 10 provides that a person may only camp at a site in a licensed
caravan park or camping ground or in accordance with Regulation 11.
Regulation 11 states that a person may camp on land other than a caravan park
or camping ground for up to three nights (in any period of 28 consecutive days)
if the person has obtained the prior permission of the owner or occupier of the
land.
For periods longer than three nights, permission must be obtained from the local
government. Local governments may permit camping on land that is not a
licensed caravan park or camping ground for up to three months in any period of
12 months, while the Minister for Local Government and Regional Development
can give approval for a period greater than three months within a one-year period.
It has been proposed by camping associations that the period of time that a
person may camp on land once they have permission from the owner or
occupier should be extended to up to seven nights before they are required to
ask the local government for permission for a longer stay. It is argued that this is
more practical and appropriate than requiring the permission of the relevant local
government after three nights of camping. This argument is particularly pertinent
with respect to the more remote areas of the State.
However, there are some concerns about this proposal in relation to health, safety,
environmental and risk management issues. It is argued that, in order to alleviate
such concerns, camping should be limited to those places with approved facilities
if it is to continue for more than a few days.
Regulation 11 enables people to stay in caravans or other vehicles on a road
reserve for up to 24 hours in an emergency situation. People may also camp for
up to 24 hours in a caravan or other vehicle in a designated roadside rest area.
The Regulations also enable a person to camp on unallocated Crown land or
unmanaged reserves, in accordance with the permission of the Minister
responsible for the Land Administration Act 1997.
Many of the places where people in the past have wanted to camp appear to be
located on land controlled by either the Department for Planning and
Infrastructure or the Department of Conservation and Land Management.
Section 267 of the Land Administration Act 1997 makes it an offence to camp on
Crown land without the permission of the Minister for Planning and
Infrastructure.
Government agencies are generally reluctant to grant permission for camping on
Crown land due to concerns about people’s health and safety as well as
environmental, liability and risk management issues. To address these concerns,
minimum standards would need to be specified. The costs of maintaining the
standards and managing these activities could be substantial.

It should be noted that while there may be a desire among some people to
camp on unallocated Crown land or unmanaged reserves, this could have
negative repercussions on caravan parks and camping grounds which are
established specifically for this purpose and which will, potentially, lose customers.

This is the first draft of the comments I intend to submit by email to the Caravan Parks & Camping Grounds Act 1995 Review Co-ordinator
Department of Local Government and Regional Development
camping@dlgrd.wa.gov.au

Please offer your constructive critisism and any advice you can. I don't want to be counterproductive. Maybe we can even get together and come up with a template we can all bombard their email address with. (just an idea).
Cheers,
Tom

Regarding the review of the Caravan Parks and Camping Grounds Act.

I would like to submit the following comments and concerns. Particularly regarding section 3.4 - Where people may camp.

The act appears to be placing limitations on the area's where people are able to enjoy the freedom of the bush, whether on public or private land.
Much of the retail camping, outdoor and 4wd industry is geared to providing their customers with the tools and equipment to be able to be self sufficient where there are no other facilities. Wouldn't forcing people to only be able to stay in official caravan and camping grounds damage that industry. There would no longer be the need for much of the equipment they sell. It would damage an industry that I am guessing pays a lot more taxes and employs more people than all the caravan and camping sites combined.

Wouldn't it also cost those and other industries dearly if less people were camping? The fact that camping is "free" is what attracts many people to this outdoor activity.
A lot of the enjoyment of camping is about getting away from other people and enjoying the privacy and solitude of the bush.
Forcing people to use paid-for facilities will either take away one of the few pleasures left to low income families, or make criminals of average honest Australian.

I suggest that a far more tolerant approach should be taken to allowing people freedom to enjoy this very large land responsibly and with consideration to others.
That the act should help to encourage people to enjoy the outdoors and camping/caravanning activities. That it should focus on regulating the services that are charged for so that they offer good value for money in a market that they often have a monopoly on in their location.

Regards,
Tom ****

Good tips, I added a bit more and sent my say in.
If we'd got more interest Col I'd say the next step is to start an email based petition (everyone adds their name and forwards it back to the originator, or final destination or both).

I ran it past some people at the 4b club we went out with today and they already have a rep going to have his say, so the word IS out about it.