Stockton Beach Access Protest 2nd Feb

The issue went political with the aim of trying to get it actioned through the Assembly. The Australian Motorists Party included it in their platform and had a high profile member in Chic Henry the previous owner of Summernats.

There was an election a few months after, where Labour got back in with the support of the Greens who are not interested in this at all.

None of the Motorists party were elected and were basically decimated.

The Politicians have now made up their mind not to proceed. I am no longer a rep on the Council so I am not sure what they are doing other than indicating that the issue has not been dropped and they will have another go using another strategy.

Can someone tell me when Roothy and 4WDA discussed the issue of closing Stockton with the actual decision makers - the traditional owners. Convince them and NPWS will have to tow the line or loose management rights form the area.

Garry

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Originally Posted by garrycol

We need to get the NSW 4WD Association (the recognised peak body) to start action behind the scenes...

There is a time and place for protests like what happened yesterday but not at the start - it is for when diplomacy has not worked...

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Originally Posted by bobslandies

The NPWS are always talking with the 4WD Association and where possible letting everyone know the situation at Stockton...

The main reason we have access to Stockton Beach now is because of the work of a few dedicated members of this Association over the last fifteen years or so. Their hard work has focused on keeping this beach open to all, not just Association members...

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Originally Posted by CRR88

You see this was not so much a protest rally prior to negotiation perhaps it was a call from the people to say it seems quite clear that the softly softly approach has little or no impact & it's time to move to the next phase.

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Well after following this thread for 7 pages of comments it's still not clear whether the softly softly approach has already been tried and failed (only working for so long) or if it is just getting started now that a few thousand 4x4 owners decided to turn up and show everyone they've had a gutfull.

There is a petition here if anyone is interested: http://www.change.org/petitions/nati...nal-parks-open

Garry,

The point here is not what Roothy has done or even who should claim responsibility for the acheivements to date & it's clearly not the start of an issue at Stockton Beach. 4WD NSW-ACT in their reponse to this protest confirm that the association have been working for 15 years to keep Stockton open to all 4wders.

Don't get me wrong here, the work done by Rob Kelly & other members is outstanding but really after 15 years of increased red tape & tighter access restrictions it must be about time to try a different approach.

Jim

4wdNSW-ACT represents around 98 clubs throughout NSW. The members of the association are the club that it represents, not the individual members. This is probably why affiliate membership has not been made available. Within those 98 clubs, there are contained around 4000 club members.
To be incorporated as a club in NSW, there are certain requirements a club must meet. One of these is that they must hold regular, face to face meetings, therefore excluding on-line clubs. This is a requirement of the office of fair trading.
Unfortunately, involvement by club members in the association website is woefully slack, even less in the actual running of the association. This year isvthe first year that the association has had a full committee since 2009. It is through these people and others that sit on regional advisory councils , all volunteers, that the progress is made. Most people don't know that these battles are going on in the background, everything is done to ingratiate 4wders with the NPWS and FORESTS. Clean up days, track repair and maintenance, cooperative projects have all helped to get things happening. It is a really slow process and we all get a little impatient at times, but when you look at the big picture and see the wins, it makes it all worthwhile.

I was just reading a post on the 4wdA facebook site and one of the poster's solution was " Start blockading national parks offices and headquarters , stop them getting to work !!"

Typical of the redneck mentality of some of these "Roothy" lovers

bussy1963,

I recall hearing all the same sort of comments during the closure of trails in the Barrington Tops area some 25 years ago & this was at a rally organised by the Hunter Regional 4wd Council, supported by the 4wd Association.

Unfortunately your attempts to infame the situation with posts such as this do little to assist in achieving the unity that is required between the 4wd Association & the broader 4wd community (the best way forward is through the strength of numbers)

Jim

It would be unnecessary to blockade stockton if it does get to the that sort of level if we all stopped going the money from permits would stop. How long before the tradional owners would allow that before stepping in;)

I wonder if anybody has gone to the trouble of reading the lease agreement between both parties.

I agree with booger just stop going there for a few months and it will cripple the economy of that area. Read the lease agreement to get a clearer picture on why and where this closure is really going

BTW what is the permit fee currently ???????

http://www.worimiconservationlands.c...y=about&sid=60

So the NPWS manager Robert Quirk said today that 'all 28kms of the beachfront were open to 4WD owners, plus an additional 430hectares in the high dunes, and that the only off-limits space was the camping area which had been closed since last year’s mid-winter storms'.

Yet camping was only allowed within 100m of the high tide mark so why are all the sand dunes north of Lavis Lane still off-limits? Even the Worimi website in the link above states"you can only drive on the beach front and in the Recreational Vehicle Area; all dunes, back-beach and swale areas between the Lavis Lane and Gan Gan Road entries are closed to driving".

HEres some interesting news....
$1.5bn Stockton mining proposal passed | Newcastle Herald

O-D there is so much crap information given in these articles its just plain silly. They talk about camp areas like there are designated set up areas for camping like NPWS have actually done work out there since taking over, which is crap, another one that got me was talking about water that washed through from the beach creating these lagoons and has now drained away, which is also crap, the water in the lagoons is fresh water and they only appear when the water table is high enough, the ocean isn't feeding them most of these lagoons are several hundred meters inland, so unless we had a tsunami i cant see how this is possible. Every time i read one of these articles, which are usually just spouting NPWS's lies about the area, it just frustrates me.