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General Climbing Discussion

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Grampians Access 2019 20-Jun-2019 At 10:26:46 AM gfdonc

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It's amusing for me to see several of you climb (sorry) onto a soapbox of party-politik as a result of a pretty simplistic motion being put forward.
FWIW I watched the whole debate streaming live (I had a day off for other reasons), then wrote to Bev McArthur and Andy Meddick afterwards. It's unfortunate that David Limbrick was cut short due to time constraints as he made good points in the 2 minutes he had, and I'm sure was well prepped with other input.
I had to look up which party each person represents, but did it make any difference? In the end the Greens candidate had the least insights IMHO and the Libs and Animal Justice seemed to be flying the flag.
If you're a Labour voter and were expecting Gayle Tierney to beat the drum about mismanagement of the situation well, you haven't worked out how politics worked have you? She was only going to represent the establishment view. The dynamics are that the members in opposition get to ask the hard questions and score points off the incumbent government. So they're furthering our cause right now, regardless of what other political and social agendas they may wish to further.
Apart from the delight in hearing "grade 28" uttered in Parliament (as if anyone knew what that meant) one key take-away I got from yesterday is that the issue of access to public lands is far broader than the climbing community. We may be getting a lot of press at present but there are many groups affected by changes in legislation and land management and maybe the broader issue will only be solved at a legislative level.

Oh and to address Diddy's rant:
> Australian enjoyment of outdoor recreation does not trump cultural heritage
Well the motion doesn't say that. Read it again perhaps??