Plan to open river campsites to public ‘flies in the face’ of biosecurity, farmers say

Farmers and landholders in Central Victoria have raised concerns about the expansion of waterfront Crown land campsites, saying it creates serious biosecurity risks.

The Labor government made a 2018 election commitment to open licensed Crown land river frontages to camping. 

Despite being owned by the state, these areas are leased to landholders, including farmers, and border their properties. 

Jude Hannah lives on a property near Fernihurst, an hour north-west of Bendigo. 

The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) is assessing sites along the Kinipanial Creek, which backs on to her property. 

She said the area was currently a control zone for white horse nettle, or silver leaf nightshade.

“For years they’ve been spraying for white horse nettle, it does carry through floods, but can also be carried on foot or by vehicles,” Ms Hannah said.

“Our area around Fernihurst has had a project overlay now, probably for about two years, and biosecurity officers come out to check it regularly. 

“This just flies in the face of it, how do we control it? How do we control any disease or weed that could come onto our properties?

“With all the talk around biosecurity, this just seems absolutely crazy.” 

Ms Hannah also worried about her own security.   

‘We’re in very close proximity to the creek, you can see our home from there, we also don’t have fences, so our livestock can travel right down to the creek front,” she said.  

“We don’t really want to go away for weekends [if the campsite goes ahead] because we won’t know who’s in the vicinity.  

“There are some really good people out there with the best intentions, but there’s that small group of people out there that threaten us all.” 

In a statement, a spokesperson for DELWP said all proposed campsites had to meet its strict assessment criteria. 

“All potential campsites are subject to a thorough and consistent assessment process, to ensure important cultural, environmental, public safety and other regulatory matters are considered at each site,” they said.

“DELWP staff are installing signage at the sites, which provide relevant information for campers and visitors such as where you can camp, what rules apply, as well as safety and hazard information.”

Disease risk

Colleen Condliffe lives further south along the Loddon River, where some of the first campsites in the region were set up.   

She said the process had angered her, and turned her against the creation of new sites on other farms in the region. 

“To be quite honest, we’re always open to letting people come camp if they came and asked but now I’ve become quite angry about the whole thing,” Ms Condliffe said. 

“We’ll have a go and defend all other people who are facing the same problems on their farm.” 

Ms Condliffe also raised concerns about biosecurity. 

“It worries me, it really does, if we get foot-and-mouth [disease] in Australia we certainly won’t want anyone coming on to our property,” she said. 

“We also sign declarations when we sell our stock to say that we’re free of all diseases.

“How do we know that if we have people we don’t know coming through to the campsite?

“There’s a lot of unknowns in that area.”   

Opposition to move amendments

The state opposition will today again attempt to move amendments to the legislation that would require campers to ask permission from the licensed landholder before camping. 

The Land Amendment (Accessing Licensed Water Frontages) Bill would also give the minister power to temporarily cancel all camping on a licensed waterfront in the interest of public safety, biosecurity or animal welfare.   

But Jude Hannah said there was not enough detail in the proposal. 

“When I looked further into that bill, there was no indication of how we manage that,” she said.

“How do we book people in? Do they call us? Do they turn up and ask?

“How do we know if there’s a biosecurity risk of where they’ve been?”