The New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has put forward a proposal for a new trial that would allow commercial businesses to hire sections of selected campgrounds.
Under this plan, visitors would be able to book campsites that include pre-arranged equipment, facilities, or catering services. The NPWS has stated that the aim of the initiative is to make camping more accessible for people who lack the necessary gear or experience, helping them to enjoy the outdoors without the expense of purchasing new equipment.
The trial is expected to take place across sixteen national parks and twenty-three campgrounds, offering a mix of traditional and supported camping options. Prices would be set by the private businesses granted licences to operate the new services. According to the NPWS, the goal is to remove barriers for first-time campers and to encourage more people to explore the state’s natural landscapes.
Not everyone supports the proposal. Greens environment spokesperson Sun Higginson has criticised the plan, calling it flawed and misleading, and warning that it could restrict public access to land that should remain open to all.
She argued that if the government truly wanted to make camping more accessible, it should focus on creating new campsites rather than allocating existing ones to private operators. Higginson described the plan as a betrayal of public trust and a sharp departure from the Minns government’s pledge not to privatise public assets.
Camping enthusiasts have also raised concerns. The introduction of online booking systems during the pandemic made securing a campsite more complicated, as all reservations must now be made in advance. This system has led to ghost bookings, where sites are reserved but remain unused.
Avid camper Michael Atkinson, known from the television series Alone Australia, told Yahoo News that the problem could worsen under the NPWS trial. Businesses taking part in the supported camping scheme would be allowed to reserve their designated sites a full year in advance, while members of the public can only book six months ahead.
Atkinson warned that this could lead to commercial operators blocking access to sites through unnecessary reservations. It remains unclear how much private operators would pay for the licences to run these services within national parks.
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