Submission to the Acland Walking Access Consultation Panel
Council of Outdoor RecreationAssociations of NZ Inc
28 July 2006
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Appendix 4
Other matters
4.1 Vandalism Disincentive
Often a disincentive to access is likely damage to parked vehicles. In the 1970s and 1980s when I was in Hawkes Bay this was a problem on roads such as the Napier - Taihape road with parked cars being trashed or burned. Often this was caused by aggressive landowners, reportedly in those cases tribal/group multi-ownership adjoining public lands. Recent reports indicate this still occurs e.g. Bay of Plenty.
This is a law and order issue but it also becomes an access issue if it deters or discourages rightful public access to recreation.
4.2 Hunting
In the access debate, hunting has been put aside. However there is no reason why hunters should not be given the right to use any access strips on the condition
- the bolt is removed from the rifle and
- no firearm can be discharged from an access strip
Importantly fines for breaches of these conditions, should be considerable and not just a paltry one.
4.3 The Future
New Zealand sits on a knife edge with respect to public access. Commercial interests (e.g. exclusive capture, shooting preserves) are against the very egalitarian principles our European forbears set down. If these practices are allowed to become established, the erosion will continue like a cancerous growth.
Some pertinent words to recall are of the late John F Kennedy, USA president.
"The race between education and erosion, between wisdom and waste has not run its course - each generation must deal anew with the raiders, with the scramble to use public resources for private profit and with the tendency to prefer short run profits to long term necessities."
Most of the major access problems are associated with "the scramble to use public resources for private profit."
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