Shooters restrict access to new Sydney coastal national park

With Federal and NSW Government Ministers having recently announced that “the South-Eastern Malabar Headland now belongs to the people of New South Wales” it has emerged that there will be severe restrictions on access to the site because of a nearby shooting range.

Last month, Federal Minister for the Environment Greg Hunt and NSW Environment Minister Mark Speakman announced that the South-Eastern Malabar Headland in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs now belonged to the people of NSW.

Minister Hunt announced the completion of the transfer of ownership of the 70 hectare site from the Federal Government to the State of NSW, stating “we have quadrupled the size of land on the Malabar Headland that will be accessible to the people of New South Wales.

“The South-Eastern Headland is the most beautiful and scenic part of the Malabar Headland with panoramic coastal views rivalling any other section of Sydney’s stunning coastline.”

However, it has since emerged a long term lease for the ANZAC Rifle Range in the middle of the headland, for which shooters have a seven-day licence, will mean public access to the new national park is likely to be severely restricted for years.

Access to the area may actually decrease in the short term because new gates, locks and guards will be in place while the rifles are firing, preventing people from entering illegally as they have done for years.

The NSW Rifle Association says its members want more shooting on weekends, and weekdays are regularly used, too.

Association Chairman John Baxter told media “I have a big obligation to expand the operations of the rifle range to cater to the needs of the shooters across the Sydney basin and the country.

“We are fully occupied on Saturdays and are looking at expanding to Sunday shooting.”

Minister Hunt has since stated that the Association had a “long-term future” at Malabar until there was an agreed alternative site found and that finding a new home for the shooters could take “three, five, seven or 17 years”.

A spokesman for Minister Speakman said a forward program of “range operation dates” would be provided so the public was aware when the headland was accessible.

The spokesman explained “we’re looking at May or June for public access.

“The NSW Government has asked the Commonwealth to ensure that the operation of the range does not unreasonably preclude public access.”

The transfer of ownership has allowed the return of the South East Equestrian Club to the Headland with remediation and construction works to enable their return expected to be commence shortly.

The South-Eastern Malabar Headland is home to some of the last remnants of the threatened Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub and a surviving coastal battery from the defence of Sydney during the Second World War.

Former Labor Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett began Malabar Headland being turned into a national park and had the 17 hectare western section declared a national park in 2012.

13th April 2015 - MALABAR HEADLAND TO BE RETURNED TO PEOPLE OF NSW

26th October 2009 - NSW TO ALLOW RECREATIONAL HUNTING IN NATIONAL PARKS?