Today, two renowned Australian rock climbers commenced a Court case against Parks Victoria to review its decision to deny them permission to rock climb at world-class climbing areas at the Gariwerd/Grampians National Park in Victoria.
In February 2019, Parks Victoria announced the world’s largest rock climbing bans, covering 551 square kilometres of the Gariwerd/Grampians National Park and including most of the world-class climbing areas in the Park. These bans came without warning, following only a very limited consultation with a handful of climbers about some emerging concerns, and with no warning to, or consultation with, the communities that rely on climbers for their economic survival.
The President of the Victorian Climbing Club Inc, Kevin Lindorff, and one of its members, Glenn Tempest, made applications for permits to climb at specified areas within the banned areas at the Gariwerd//Grampians. Their applications were refused.
The refusal of their requests to climb denied them procedural fairness as they were not given the opportunity to comment before their applications to climb were refused.
The case is listed for a directions at the Supreme Court on 28 October 2020.