In June of 2024 I sent Parks Victoria a detailed proposal asking them to reconsider the climbing / bushwalking boundary location at Bundaleer in the Grampians National Park. This boundary location was established by Parks Victoria with no input from the climbing or bushwalking communities. The Bundaleer Proposed Boundary Relocation took about three months to research and complete, and I appreciate the considerable input from various members of the climbing community, the bushwalking community and from Climbing Victoria, who supported my proposal. I believe the proposal provided Parks Victoria with a reasonable and compelling case that would be of benefit to all parties concerned. I sent the proposal to Jason Borg (Regional Director, Parks Victoria). A couple of weeks later I received a reply from Dale Antonysen who was acting in his role. Dale’s response is published below. Unfortunately I don’t believe that Parks Victoria took my proposal seriously, and in fact I was later informed by friends who worked within Parks Victoria that the traditional owners involved had almost certainly not been given the opportunity to see the proposal or to comment on it.
Twelve months later in July 2025, Michael Smith (Parks Victoria, District Manager, South West) expressed an interest in again looking at the Bundaleer proposal. Unfortunately nothing came of it. In October 2025 I decided to send it directly to Lee Miezis, the new Chief Executive Officer of Parks Victoria. This was in response to his public statements indicating that Parks Victoria were willing to soften their hard-line approach at restricting public access to our national parks and reserves. His response, in November 2025, was via Clare Purcell (the new Southwest Regional Director, Parks Victoria), and was in line with her predecessors. I then replied to Clare via email in early December 2025. This was my last paragraph; ‘I know that both Jason Borg (previous Southwest Regional Director) and Dale Antonysen (previous acting Southwest Regional Director) actively avoided discussing my proposal with traditional owners about this issue. Clare, could you please confirm with me that you have discussed my proposal directly with the traditional owners involved’.
I am still awaiting her reply.
