FOUR WHEEL DRIVE WESTERN AUSTRALIA

(WA 4WD Association INC.)

The Western Australian Recreational Campers Organization Incorporated

What is WARCO?

The Western Australian Recreational Campers Organization Incorporated (WARCO) was formed in March 1999, with the aim of re-establishing and maintaining the traditional right of Western Australians to enjoy free outdoor recreation in an environment of their choice. WARCOs current membership is comprised of the following organizations:

	Australian Anglers Association Inc.
	Western Australian Caravan Clubs Association Inc.
	Lapidary Association of WA Inc.
	Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (WA) Inc.
	Australian Campers Alliance Inc.
	Western Australian 4WD Association Inc.
	Campervan and Motor home Club of Australia Ltd.Australian National 4WD Council Inc.

WARCO is administered through a Board of Management and is committed to working with all levels of government, along with the camping, caravanning and tourism industries in a spirit of dialogue and cooperation.

The Problem

The current Caravan Parks and Camping Grounds Act and Regulations present campers and caravanners with several major problems. Of particular concern are sections (11), (12) and (13) of the Regulations. The following scenario highlights the difficulties inherent in the present arrangements:

Two couples from New South Wales decide to use their long service leave for a joint caravanning holiday around Australia. They plan their itinerary based on advice from the tourist information department of the NRMA and set off. After six weeks working their way up the Queensland coast and across the Northern Territory they arrive in Western Australia. They cross the border in the mid-afternoon and look for a place to camp for several days. They come across an unmarked sidetrack, which leads to a suitable location beside a small creek. It has trees for shelter and a reasonable amount of flat ground for their caravans. They make camp for four days.

Section (11) of the Regulations requires that they obtain permission from the owner or person who has legal right to occupy the land. To comply however, they must first determine who owns or occupies the property and often this can only be done via a title search. The process can be extremely difficult, especially when the nearest shire office may be hundreds of kilometres away. If our hypothetical interstate visitors remain at the site without the relevant permission they risk a $100 fine under section (10) of the Regulations.

Section (11) of the Regulations also requires that in addition to having permission from the landowner or person who has the legal right to occupy the property, they must also seek the permission of the relevant local government authority if their stay exceeds 3 days. Apart from the initial problem of determining exactly which shire a particular piece of property is located in, the exercise can be both convoluted and time consuming, as the local authority must consider the application in concert with the requirements of section (13) of the Regulations which broaches issues of site suitability the proximity of facilities.

It turns out that the land is part of a large pastoral lease and the station manager permits the couples to camp on the property. However, section (12) of the Regulations states that a person who owns or has the legal right to occupy land is to ensure that not more than one caravan is being used to camp on the ‘lot’ at any one time. By granting both couples permission to stay the manager is in breach of the Regulations and risks a $100 fine.

The only alternative left to our hypothetical tourists (short of staying in a caravan park) is to locate one of the designated roadside rest areas established along the state’s main roads. However, WARCO understands there are no plans to establish similar areas on secondary road systems around Western Australia.

Complying with the current Caravan Parks and Camping Grounds Act and Regulations is extremely difficult even under the most favourable conditions and next to impossible in the state’s more remote areas. The net effect is:

Users break the law (either intentionally or unintentionally).
Potential interstate and international tourists take the state off their itinerary.
Potential intrastate tourists choose to holiday elsewhere.

The Solution

WARCO agrees that control over camping is necessary. However, any regulatory measures should be both practical and easy to understand. While amendments to section (11) of the Regulations which now allow camping for up to 24 hours at designated roadside areas are an important step in addressing safety issues such as driver fatigue and vehicle breakdown, the fundamental problems associated with the current legislation nevertheless remain.


WARCO believes the best solution would be to amend the Regulations:

• to allow camping for up to seven days on private land without the need to seek permission from local government;
• to allow camping for up to seven days on land held by a State instrumentality or unallocated Crown land without the need for Ministerial approval;
• to allow a person who owns or has the legal right to occupy a particular piece of property to permit more than one caravan to camp on their land where appropriate.

WARCO believes the present arrangements are impractical and act as a serious deterrent to the sort of recreational camping and caravanning activities Western Australians have traditionally enjoyed.