QPWS Funding

[Lucky_Phill]

Heres a snippet from a news article published by Sunday Mail and reporter Darrell Giles.

Budget cuts within the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service have fuelled speculation the State Government will consider charging a daily access fee to National Parks and Forests.

The Opposition said underfunding of National Parks was ' a joke ', while one QPWS source highlighted the slashing of one major parks budget from $100,000 to $30,000 in five years.

Environment Minister Lindy Nelson-Carr said the Government had no plans - at this stage - to introduce general admission fees. But, ...........

Funding for maintaining Queensland parks and forests had increased by $19 million to $95 million in five years.

And the article went on about more stuff.

What I want to know is :-

1. Are the funding figures available to the public ?

2. How can one park have it;'s funding slashed by so much and others increased " apparently ".

3. Is all fees collected by way of camping and driving permits going back into QPWS revenue ?

Cheers Phill

[Derek_Bullock]

Interesting and important subject Phill. Here in NSW a large number of National Parks have a daily entry fee that varies from $7.00 to $16.00 a day however Kosciosko has a $27.00 daily entry fee from June long weekend to October long weekend

These fees have bee in place for some time. Oh yes you can get an annual pass. A one year pass for a particular park except Kosciosko is $22.00. A one year pass for all parks except Kosciosko is $65.00 and a one year pass for all parks including Kosciosko will set you back $190.00

What I find annoying is that I live not far from Kosciosko and there are main roads that run through it where you have to pay the daily fee just to drive through. All of the ski resorts are in the park as well so not only do you have to pay to use the ski resorts you have an extra slug of $27.00 a day just to get there.

Oh another thing. Camping fees are additional to the entry fees

I guess it is inevitable that Qld will follow suit. Actually if you do a search back through the pages I raised this quite some time ago.

Public access to public land is starting to become a thing of the past


Derek

[Lucky_Phill]

Yes Derek, I am aware of the inevitable User Pay system coming to here in Qld.

My main concern was that with the ever increasing population and population of 4 x 4's, more and more parks are being used, and therefore would seem to need upgraded management, so how could a park have it's funding slashed by 2/3 rds ?

I can see a great furture for your State Forests / Parks as long as they are managed with care and due diligence. Unfortunately, places like Fraser Island and Inskip Point have come to breaking point... IMO. Numbers have to be restricted, but how ? Is a lottery system the answer, is high user pay fees the answer ? Dunno.

Phill

[Gazza]

Disband the QPWS and we could save another squillion or 3 :P

So what if we get in for FREE :-X

*oops*

[Gazza]

We should be able to get in for FREE :P
So what ,if the QPWS doesn't make a profit :-?

Is this the "tourist state" or what ? 8-)