Mick Ripon has fished from the rugged coastline of NSW’s Ben Boyd national park for the past 45 years. Off the remote rocks of Green Cape, Ripon reeled in his biggest catch, a 68kg (150lb) yellowfin tuna, and even proposed to his wife.
Now he’s racing to stop the construction of multiple huts at Mowarry Point and Hegartys Bay that he says will rob the park of its wilderness appeal.
A proposal to construct hut accommodation along the Light to Light Walk, south of Eden, has become one of many hard-fought battles against development inside Australia’s national parks.
“Once you start building … structures, you start to compromise the wild values of the park,” Ripon, a spokesperson for the Green Cape Fishing Alliance (GCFA), says.
“National parks are areas protected for future generations and some of the last refuges for many of Australia’s vulnerable species.”
Ripon is not alone in his concern at the growing trend across Australia for tourism-driven developments within national parks.
Eco-tourism researcher Sonya Underdahl says there are few successful examples worldwide of accommodation inside national parks that take a conservation-led approach.
She says while countries like Thailand and China are demolishing luxury resorts and hotels in forests and national parks, Australia is moving in the opposite direction.
“There is no research that supports development in parks. This is now globally being withdrawn,” Underdahl says
“All the other locations [proposing accommodation inside national parks] are generally in developing nations and they’re using it for poverty alleviation and poaching.”
Some accommodation sites across Australia are state-run, like the huts proposed for Ben Boyd national park. However, in the past decade or so, there has been a significant increase in public-private partnerships where companies pay state governments to lease the land, something Underdahl says can be traced back to the 2009 National Long-term Tourism Strategy Steering Committee recommendations to better tap into the “latent tourism potential” of national parks.
Along with the Light to Light Walk, NSW has proposed cabins and “glamping” sites for the Great Southern Walk near Sydney, as well as the construction of Australia’s longest zipline and accommodation at the Gardens of Stone walk near Lithgow.
In Queensland, “eco-accommodation” proposals are on the boil atthe Wangetti Trail (Mowbray national park), Macalister Range national park, Cooloola Great Walk (Great Sandy national park) and Paluma to Wallaman Falls (Paluma Range national park).
Victoria is building new cabins at Mount Buffalo; Western Australia has announced $6.5m to develop eco-lodges and retreats in national parks; and in South Australia, there are plans to develop off-grid “pod” accommodation and two new lodges on Kangaroo Island.
It’s Tasmania, though, that is the most advanced in this space, with 138 commercial leases granted to tourism providers in national parks and reserves. Thirty of these, including private accommodation sites, complement the state’s extensive public hut network.
Tasmanian Walking Company (TWC), which operates two “accommodation-based” guided walks inside national parks, says their market is primarily middle-aged to older walkers, with the “average” being a 53-year-old female. However, they say it’s not uncommon to host walkers in their 80s “who are less likely to venture into the wilderness without support”.
“It is bucket list item for those seeking an immersive experience who more often than not leave as advocates for the protection of these precious legacy lands,” a spokesperson said.
A TWC spokesperson says the company is aware of its clear obligations when it comes to operating in national parks and funds “wildlife rescue programs, reforestation initiatives and educational activities that encourage advocacy of conservation sites”.
“While the consideration of in-park commercial accommodation is genuine, many of the industry players worry it steals oxygen from the bigger environmental issues that we must all get our heads around.”
However, experts, traditional owners and locals have complained that some development proposals are racing ahead with little community consultation.
“The general public is not in favour of these kinds of developments but developers don’t care … They are looking at single visits by wealthy urbanites,” says Ralf Buckley, emeritus international chair in ecotourism research at Griffith University.
“These developments also have substantial ecological impacts such as fragmentation of forest canopy … access corridors for weed seeds, fungal spores and feral animals … [and a] permanent footprint onsite.”
Underdahl says leases granted inside Australia’s national parks are often commercial in confidence, meaning there is little transparency over the net benefits of the schemes.
Documents released by the proponents of one Tasmanian eco-tourism proposal in 2020 showed they would pay about $6,000 a year in rent to the state government while planning to charge $4,500 per person per trip.
“Taxpayers often pay for the infrastructure, clearing for the creation of trails [and] quite often, marketing and promotions,” Underdahl says. “So it’s costing taxpayers a lot.”
A NSW Planning, Industry and Environment document requested by GCFA last year revealed the overall budget for developments at Ben Boyd national park had blown out from $7.9m to an estimated $14.5m. The document cited “significant cost escalations” since the project was announced in 2018.
A NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service spokesperson said the body undertakes “extensive community engagement, and follows strict planning conditions including environmental and cultural assessments”.
The spokesperson said “other countries offering accommodation in parks include New Zealand, the USA, and Canada”. But Underdahl says these models can not be considered best practice, with reported issues including development creep, report errors, illegal removal of vegetation and little proof of conservation.
Buckley says there are fewer than 250 individual examples of private tourism accommodation or infrastructure in public protected areas in the entire world.
“These kinds of developments proposed … I don’t think they’re good for conservation, I don’t think it’s good for equitable public access to parks and I don’t think it’s good for the tourism industry.”
However, Ecotourism Australia’s chief executive officer, Elissa Keenan, believes such projects can have a “transformative impact” on travellers’ appreciation for nature and “bring attention to conservation issues”.
“We are advocates for tourism operators in national park areas who adhere to international best-practice sustainability standards,” Keenan says.
“There are clearly economic benefits of national park operations for the local communities, and the broader regions, so effective management of national parks is critical.”
For Mark Norek, the owner of “pack-free” walking company Life’s an Adventure, constructing accommodation inside national parks “isn’t right”.
When it comes to Ben Boyd national park, he says the huts proposed will provide little benefit to smaller tourism operators or local businesses.
“Myself and other operators are already there providing a good, sustainable approach … with customers staying in an inn outside the park,” Norek says.
“I think it’s really bad when a national park sells off the crown jewels … they should be for everyone.”
