[MikeM]

Hi-ho. If anyone wants to check out the Freedom Camping Bill, which had its first reading in parliament a couple of weeks back, it’s online at http://legislation.govt.nz/bill/government/2011/0306/latest/whole.html

The main intent of the Bill isn’t specifically to make camping illegal anywhere, but to give both Local Authorities and DoC the ability to issue instant fines to people who are camping in breach of existing or newly-created local bylaws and (in DoC’s case) rules. Previously, local authorities had to go through the courts to prosecute anyone, which was time consuming and expensive and usually impractical given the kinds of people who camp in places.

The intent is not to affect the back-country experience so much, but it may be relevant to the club’s activities all the same because as well as on local authorities’ land, the Bill specifically defines Freedom Camping as being camping *anywhere* on DoC land (except designated campsites) within 1km of a road or vehicle accessible area, or within 1km of the coast. Note that in the Tararuas for instance, 4WD vehicles can get as far in as places like Waiotauru Hut, so it’s not necessarily unlikely that you might be “Freedom Camping” under this Bill in some places where you might presume you’re not..

Within this area (assuming the Bill is passed into law), DoC can impose camping restrictions (if it believes appropriate) and issue instant fines to people who breach the rules it makes. Strictly speaking, it’d also mean that a local authority official could bowl up and issue instant fines to club campers if they’re camping at a road-end in breach of a by-law. If you look at schedules 3 and 4 at the end of the Bill, quite a lot of District Councils have or are planning bylaws that effectively say “no camping except in designated campsites”..

The other thing that seems significant (though I’ve not heard anyone make a noise about it) is that section 18(h) more or less states that if you’re camping within 1km of a road (not just a road-end) on DoC land and not at a designated campsite, and thereby “Freedom Camping” according to the law, you *have* to use a toilet, or carry out. (ie. Digging a hole, which DoC even tells people to do in many of its current publications, would be technically illegal under this bill.) It seems to only count if you’re camping though. In practice DoC would probably not enforce this very often unless there were a serious problem, but right now it looks on the way to becoming law if it doesn’t get adjusted by a Select Committee.

Maybe all of this is okay and nothing to worry about, but if you do have concerns then you could mention them to a local MP. I don’t know if or when the Bill comes up for public submissions. If it does, it might not get very long given it’s not very controversial and the government’s keen to push it through before the RWC.

Enjoy.
Mike.

[Ray]

If this bill becomes law, it will have significant impact on quite a number of trips that the club runs – especially E and EM grade trips. We would not be able to camp at many road ends were we have done so in the past. Road-ends in the Tararuas that would be affected include Putara, Ohau and Mangahau. Quite a few road ends in the Ruahines would also be affected.

Ray

[hans]

So seems like a spade should become a standard piece of equipment for each van / tramping group camping at a road-end?

[MikeM]

Hi Ray. I don’t know if it’d be specifically this Bill that caused the legal problem. The Bill specifically states that ‘Freedom Camping’ is legal on any public land unless a local authority (or DoC as appropriate) says that it isn’t. The problem seems to be the number of district councils that have, or are planning, across-the-board bylaws that effectively say “no camping unless we say it’s okay”. These bylaws are already in effect, they’re just cumbersome to enforce, so if the club’s not meant to camp somewhere under this Bill, that’s probably the case already. All this Bill does in that respect is make the bylaws easier to enforce for councils that decide they want to.

Personally I think councils should only be allowed to make these bylaws for places where there’s actual specific evidence of a problem, like some of the specific touristy areas, but there are already lots of bylaws that probably aren’t like this. The Bill states in S11(2) that, from now on, an authority can only make a bylaw if it’s justifiable to protect an area or for health and safety, but probably the interpretation of this will only be very loose given the list of bylaws in Schedules 3 and 4 at end. Furthermore the very same section 11(2) even uses the phrase “perceived problem” which implies that there’s not even much concern about a council having actual *evidence* of a problem before making a bylaw. In any case, there are many existing bylaws being recognised in retrospect, many of which have a broad reach and probably haven’t been clearly justified for anything but a small portion of the land in which they prohibit camping.

In practice probably nothing will happen in most areas. Council officers probably won’t be patrolling dead-end roads next to farms where they’re unlikely to find anyone, unless a neighbour complains or they have some other reason. What it’ll mean is that if a council officer does show up, they *could* issue an instant fine instead of the council needing to go through the courts, and clubs might start to earn a bad rep for breaking local bylaws. Officers can also fine the owner of vehicles being used if they see a reason to do so, so potentially it could become a direct problem of the club.

I checked with FMC and this Bill’s on their radar, but it might be worth someone from the club clarifying the concerns about road-side camping to make sure it’s recognised as an issue, and/or seeking some good legal advice. (I’m definitely not good legal advice).

I was wrong to say that the Bill got its first reading a couple of weeks ago. It was only introduced at that time (sorry!). Someone else pointed out to me that it’s second on Parliament’s Order Paper (see http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Business/OrderPaper/f/f/0/00HOHOrderPaper1-Provisional-Order-Paper-for-Tuesday-7-June-2011.htm ), which means it’s likely to get its First Reading in Parliament this week, possibly Tuesday night. At some point after that it should be going near a Select Committee that’ll want public submissions.

[MikeM]

The Bill passed its first reading last night, for what it’s worth, and is now open for submissions (which can be made online). Submissions close June 29th.

http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Legislation/Bills/d/b/5/00DBHOH_BILL10706_1-Freedom-Camping-Bill.htm

[Eamonn]

It’s nice not to be regulated but take advantage of that privilege and it may cause things to change. As well as questioning others it’s always good to scrutinise ourselves. I don’t think there’s anything to worry about… but I have always wondered whether trampers could be part of the problem in a hypothetical scenario where they might use DoC facilities without paying. I haven’t read the bill but I reckon it’d be stone mad to stop trampers staying at road ends with no campsite. I guess the odd one might have camper vans at it and that would be a problem. Especially if they don’t have their own facilities. Sounds like a tricky thing to do but it would be nice if there was an exclusion for people genuinely using the tracks. Then again, perhaps it’s something that can only ever be tolerated trespass so that DoC can avoid any legal headaches if they feel they need to move people on.

[MikeM]

Well I got my submission written in the end, for what it’s worth. (Online at http://www.windy.gen.nz/index.php/archives/589/ ) Re-checking it I messed up some grammar near the end with my cut-and-paste technique, but hopefully it’s not too distracting.

If anyone else has an interest in writing anything, you have until tomorrow (Wednesday 29th June) to get it in.

[MikeM]

Federated Mountain Clubs also made a submission, readable (next to all the other submissions) at http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/SC/Documents/Evidence/0/9/e/49SCLGE_EVI_00DBHOH_BILL10706_1_A195541-Federated-Mountain-Clubs-NZ.htm

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