2017/16: Should climbing Uluru be banned?
Introduction to the media issue
Video clip at right:On November 6, 2017 Behind the News televised a report on the recent decision to close Uluru to climbers on October 26, 2019. If you cannot see this clip, it will be because video is blocked by your network. To view the clip, access from home or from a public library, or from another network which allows viewing of video clips.
What they said...
'Closing the climb is not something to feel upset about but a cause for celebration'
From a speech made on October 31, 2017, by senior traditional owner and park chairman, Sammy Wilson
'Well if you want to get rid of 99% of tourists that's the way to go'
Comment posted in The Northern Star on November 1, 2017
On October 31, 2017, the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park's Board of Management voted unanimously to ban the climbing of Uluru from October 26, 2019.
The Board, consisting of eight Indigenous traditional owners and three representatives from National Parks, accepted a proposal to put a stop to climbing on the 34th anniversary of the Uluru handback.
Chairman Sammy Wilson, a traditional owner who also runs a small tourism business, stated, 'Some people, in tourism and government, for example, might have been saying we need to keep it open but it's not their law that lies in this land...
The Government needs to respect what we are saying about our culture in the same way it expects us to abide by its laws.'
Traditional owners have been asking visitors not to climb Uluru since the 1985 handback and signs requesting people reconsider climbing have been in place at the base of the climb area since 1992.
Central Land Council Director, David Ross, has supported the decision, stating, 'Why this decision wasn't made decades ago is a fair question.' However, he further stated, 'Anangu [the traditional owners of Uluru] have genuinely struggled to accommodate many powerful competing interests and have faced massive pressure.'
In April, 2016, the Turnbull government announced it did not intend to end the climb. The Environment Minister Greg Hunt stated there were 'no plans to change current arrangements.' In 2009, when in opposition, Hunt had claimed that banning the climb would 'end one of the great tourism experiences in Australia.'