https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/security-guards-paid-7k-a-week-to-guard-mount-warning/news-story/36a62bbd71593f6dac0382b7b0e5211b

Security guards paid $7k a week to guard Mount Warning

A war of words has broken out after security guards were hired to guard a popular mountain which has been closed to the public since March 2020.

Mount Warning in Wollumbin National Park in northern NSW was closed in March 2020 due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Then in December 2020, the track was closed again due to safety concerns.

In July 2021, the Wollumbin Aboriginal Place Management plan recommended the track be closed permanently, a recommendation which resulted in the then NSW government closing the mountain “pending further discussions”.

During its closure, the mountain has been guarded by security to the tune of $7000 a week.

NSW upper house MP John Ruddick told news.com.au it was a “sad and terrible joke” that private security guards were hired to keep people away from a mountain.

“Mount Warning is(part of) a national park like any other, it is a taxpayer funded asset of our state that should be enjoyed, appreciated, and respected by all Australians,” he said.

“This is why I am seeking support for a parliamentary inquiry; this inquiry will empower all community stakeholders to have their say rather than just a few.

“It is my hope that this will lead to the reopening of Mount Warning in a respectful and responsible way.

“Ngaraakwal Elder Marlene Boyd who sadly passed away said ‘How can the public experience the spiritual significance of this land if they do not climb the summit and witness creation?”.’

The Wollumbin Aboriginal Place Management plan argued public access to the site has resulted in vandalism, the dumping of rubbish, increased erosion, and illegal installation of infrastructure.

The document said the key cultural and spiritual values of the place cannot be respected or protected if the general public continues to have access.

The plan also states the mountain is considered a “men’s site” and that the “sanctity” of Wollumbin Aboriginal Place “may also manifest physically”, making people sick or putting women in “physical danger”.

“For example, if women access areas that are restricted to men, women are in physical danger and likewise for men,” the plan stated.

NSW environment minister Penny Sharpe declined to comment to news.com.au.

On January 26, almost 100 protesters gathered to rally against the closure of the mountain.

Campaigner Marc Hendrickx, who wrote the book A Guide To Climbing Mount Warning told The Daily Telegraph the national park and the summit “deserves better than the misguided treatment it has received from the current authorities”.

Mr Hendrickx said the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service “let the country down”.

“The closure was based on lies and falsehoods about the environmental impact of visitors and the safety of the walking route,” he said.

Brilliant idea by Labor. Just what the region needs. People being paid to do nothing.


The Daily Telegraph
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au › ... › Tweed-heads
21 Jan 2023 — Hospitality venues across the Tweed are feeling the ripple effects of a widespread worker shortage

freediver wrote on Feb 1^st, 2024 at 6:09pm:



Didn't the ban start when the libs were in govt?

Perhaps if they stop cutting penalty rates hospitality venues might not struggle to find staff 

Violation by stealth of basic human right to equal treatment.... discrimination ... prejudice ... creation of classes of citizen ... division ... hostility .... eventual civil war.....

Now then - what part of NO do you find hard to understand?  You want it closed?  Put it to a vote of the people...................... same as every other handover without proper reason.... stuff the whinging fringe dwellers who want everything for nothing and refuse to participate .... if you don't want to be part of modern society you have no ri8ght to expect that society to hand stuff over to you on demand.

One day the people will take it all back... tear open their access to the seafront where that has been closed off... rip back their right to full and free use of national parks... a party with the balls to come that one will romp in .... only idiots support the true Nazis while trying to call anyone who opposes them vile names.... you'll end up staked to the ground under a drop bear habitat ....

I [quote]t's better than 50 million people starving to death because a bunch of communist morons think they can do a better job at feeding them than they can at feeding themselves. [quote]

Classic diversion from fraudiver.

Your low IQ/fraudulence/blind ideology on full display; China was  the poorest nation on the planet BEFORE the CCP took over.  Now its the largest economy in the world (gdp in PPP terms). 

Graps comment was at least relevant, even if he wrongly blamed "incompetent government"  for the closure of Mt Warning.  Government's react to the loudest voices, the 50%+1 is hard to identify sometimes.

freediver wrote on Feb 1^st, 2024 at 8:26pm:

So they just 'climb it' and that's all?
What do they put back into the Mountain as if to honour its existence for being there for them in the first place?
Knowing Australian Tourism, it would be SFA.
All take and no give it seems.
Just another exploitable commodity for bored White people who can only come up with 'climbing it'. 

Jasin wrote on Feb 1^st, 2024 at 6:55pm:


You do know the farmers that took over and started the wipe out of the darkies in Europe built the megaliths. The Celts came later, much later, around 500 bc.

Jasin wrote on Feb 1^st, 2024 at 8:57pm:


The security is to protect the people that smash windows, slash tyres, vandalise vehicles and threaten to spear people. Apparently the best way to do that is to pay $7,000@week to keep the perps from being sent to gaol, where they should be.