THE state government last week announced it would stop the practice of campers booking the same site year after year.
Environment Minister Gavin Jennings said the changes would provide a fairer go to all people wanting to visit popular caravan and camping sites.
The change has been met with a chorus of disapproval from long-time Mornington Peninsula campers and caravaners. Others who have been unable to secure a camping site are praising the changes.
"Victoria's Crown land caravan parks are extremely popular holiday destinations, which is why the government is taking action to ensure everyone gets a fairer go and has access to the best sites," Mr Jennings said.
The changes would prevent people claiming "ownership" of prime sites year after year. "For decades, the regulations governing Crown land caravan parks have allowed people who have been granted a 12-month site lease to simply roll over the lease each year without it being offered to anyone else. This meant some people had exclusive access to the same site for many years, freezing out others who are equally entitled to use public sites."
He said the guidelines placed a cap on the number of years a caravan site could be rented by one person.
A minimum of 10per cent of all types of permits within a caravan park must be made available to new site holders, Mr Jennings said. "Permit renewal length will be linked to the size of the waiting list to ensure prospective permit holders do not wait too long. Long-term permit sites will be required to have a balanced mix of accommodation types, such as cabins, caravans and campsites."
Mornington Peninsula Shire says foreshore camping on the peninsula has "a long-standing generational tradition".
"Rosebud, Rye and Sorrento are key destination spots for a seaside camping holiday. The Rye camping area occupies 21.8 hectares of foreshore and has 173 sites, Sorrento is about 35 hectares and 142 sites, and Rosebud foreshore camping areas extends seven kilometres from McCrae in the north to Rosebud West in the south and has 665 sites."
The shire has managed Rye and Sorrento foreshore camping for about 30 years and took over Rosebud from Parks Victoria in 2005.
Six other camping areas on the peninsula are run by volunteer committees of management – Dromana, Capel Sound (Rosebud West to Rye), Whitecliffs to Camerons Bight (Rye to Blairgowrie) and on the Western Port side, Crib Point/Stony Point, Somers and Shoreham.
All up, the peninsula has about 2000 public camping sites.
Most sites are allocated under a historic 'as of right' annual allocation with a smaller number of sites available under a ballot system.
Bill Mortyn, foreshore manager with the Whitecliffs to Camerons Bight committee, says their area will meet the government's 10per cent rule by natural attrition and balloting.
"We'll gain about 4per cent of sites by people not renewing and ballot the balance."
He predicted the end of all repeat bookings in the medium term.
"A review of camping regulations was to be expected, as there are fewer and fewer caravan parks, many closing because they are no longer viable."
He said campers such as the four generations who occupy peninsula sites and miss out in future summers would be bitterly disappointed, but many "have enjoyed exclusive privilege for so long".
For more information, visit www.dse.vic.gov.au/campingparks
* One of photographer Matthew Sleeth's atmospheric images of a Rosebud camper in his annexe. Until age 13, Sleeth spent summers at the same Rosebud caravan site with the same neighbours and returned as an adult in 2003 to see what had changed – very little. "A sense of community and continuity remained and I remembered these with great affection, but the underlying currents of boredom and slight menace were also familiar," he wrote. His exhibition Rosebud: Matthew Sleeth was at Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery in Mornington in August 2007 and details are still on the gallery's website.
Email a friend