Rory Amon urges Labor to protect heritage sites
Tensions are running high over potential plans to list the historic Assistant Lighthouse Keeper’s Cottage and Boatman’s Cottage as Airbnb-style rentals.
Last year, a draft Plan of Management for Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park was released by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) which proposed short-stay visitor accommodation at both cottages and The Basin House. It also mooted further opening up the area, with mobile food and drink vendors, as well as mobile equipment hire ‘at various locations’. Examples given included mountain bikes and paddleboards.
Pittwater MP Rory Amon recently received confirmation from the State Government through questions on notice that ‘management options’ were being considered by the Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Penny Sharpe.
When Labor was in opposition, Ms Sharpe had said that the party opposed commercialisation of all national parks. She called on the then-Liberal Government to ‘properly fund’ the NPWS so that ‘commercial arrangements would not be necessary to fund operations.’
Mr Amon said this showed that Labor had now ‘broken its promise’ and has put ‘commercialisation back on the table.’
“During the election campaign, I secured vital concessions from the then-Liberal Government that the Boatman’s Cottage would be maintained as a caretaker residence, and that the road to the top of the Headland would not be upgraded to allow for commercial activity,” he said.
“I am calling on the Labor Government to keep its promise and not take us for granted.”
More than 250,000 people a year visit the heritage-listed buildings and lighthouse on Barrenjoey Headland above Palm Beach, with the site regularly appearing on screens as Stewart’s Point in the television series Home and Away.
Local lobby group, the Palm Beach and Whale Beach Association, opposes the plan, fearing that it will attract unruly behaviour and noise. However, an NPWS spokesman said that the ‘adaptive reuse of heritage buildings’ was commonplace, with many used for short-stay holiday rentals in Australia’s national parks.
Ms Sharpe confirmed that the government wanted national parks to ‘open for as many people as possible to enjoy’ and ‘not just a commercialisation of the parks estate.’ “I will take into account submissions and community feedback before finalising the new plan of management,” she added.
By Catherine Lewis