The Parks Under Threat

DEVELOPMENTS PLANNED, UNDERWAY, OR RECENTLY COMPLETED IN AUSTRALIA’S NATIONAL PARKS

Selected Campaigns

Beowa NP, NSW

As one of the last remaining sections of wild coast in NSW, Beowa National Park is a critical refuge for native plants and animals, including more than 30 threatened species. This culturally significant wild coastline is under threat again, after the Black Summer bushfires destroyed huge expanses in 2019/20.

Now the park is under threat as a result of a planned multi-day, exclusive lodge-to-lodge walk development. Mowarry Point and Hegarty’s Bay are proposed sites for large, remote-area accommodation complexes for 72 guests plus staff; the developments threaten to forever spoil these wild ‘secret spots’.

Great Sandy NP, QLD

The Cooloola section of Queensland’s Great Sandy National Park presents the world's oldest coastal dune formations (over 700,000 years) and is one of the most complete dune systems in the world. Cooloola is an outstanding example of unique and significant ecosystems, natural beauty and hosts rich biodiversity, including over 350 species of birds and many rare and threatened species.

But the Cooloola Great Walk Ecotourism Project plans to establish five new exclusive-use corporate ecotourism sites that will include hard-roofed, luxury en-suite cabins along with glamping areas, along with developing new roads. The proposalwould provide wealthy visitors and corporate clients with luxury holidays at the cost of destroying significant natural and aesthetic values.

Alpine NP, VIC
The alpine region of mainland Australia covers less than 0.3% of our vast continent. Much of it lies within the boundaries of Victoria’s Alpine National Park, a treasured landscape that’s home to the rare and fuzzy tooarrana, mountain pygmy possums, endangered skinks, fields of mountain daisies and much more. At the park’s heart are the Bogong High Plains, holding unique, endemic plant life, wildlife and ecosystems found nowhere else on earth. Mount Feathertop is Victoria’s grandest freestanding peak and one of its highest mountains. These magnificent features deserve rigorous protection: they should be respected, not exploited.

But a proposed new, luxury, five-day, hut-based walk with more than 80 new structures and a new track threatens this precious landscape.

Southwest NP, TAS

The South Coast Track (SCT) is a remote, 85 kilometre bushwalking track along one of the last true wilderness coastlines. Walkers embarking on the seven-day trek explore untouched forests, wild open beaches and rugged mountain ranges. This area is also the sacred ancient heartland of the palawa people.

Six luxury lodges along the SCT a proposed to be built for the exclusive use of Wild Bush Luxury clients, threatening to erode the pristine natural environment, the wilderness and cultural values of this World Heritage area

Gardens of Stone SCA, NSW

The Gardens of Stone State Conservation Area in NSW’s Central West is a stunning landscape of rock pagodas, cliffs and canyons, and it protects important cultural heritage, threatened species and ecological treasures. Reserved as a ‘national park in waiting’ while coal mining in the region winds down, this reserve links the Wollemi, Blue Mountains and Gardens of Stone National Parks.

A seventy kilometre ‘Great Walk’ with three exclusive accommodation hubs is proposed for the SCA, along with 100km of 4WD tracks and 35km of MTB tracks. Also proposed, but subsequently scrapped, was the Lost City theme park, which involved zip lines and via ferrata and elevated walkways. Although supposedly shelved, it is still in the plan of management. Until it is removed from the plan, it can be reactivated.