New rules to give caravan park hogs heave-ho in favour of casuals

Alex de Vos
New rules will force out long-term carvan park campers in favour of casuals as part of a management shake-up announced in Torquay this week.
Environment and Climate Change Minister Gavin Jennings said the changes would provide a “fairer go to all people wanting to visit our popular caravan and camping sites”.
Under existing arrangements, campers with 12-month site leases are allowed to roll over their entitlements each year without park managers offering the sites to anyone else.
“This has meant that some people have had exclusive access to the same site for many years, freezing out others who are equally entitled to use that public site,” Mr Jennings said.
“As a result, these people have effectively had a never-ending lease on the public land site when the regulations were designed to allow one-year access.”
Mr Jennings said the new legislation, which applied to the state’s 175 public caravan parks, would cap long-term sites at nine years.
“The new guidelines will also halt the practice of some people selling their caravans on-site, which has the potential of giving buyers the impression the site was part of the purchase,” he said.
Surf Coast Shire Community and Ratepayers Association president Spencer Leighton slammed the changes.
“I think that if it doesn’t need fixing, why fix it,” he said.
“We’ve had people stay in the caravan park for years, hand down the sites to other people then come to live in Torquay. You’d be surprised at how much of the community is like that.”
Mr Leighton labelled the plan a “bit communistic”.
“They’re telling you what you can and cannot do even if you’re doing the right thing – why bother if people are paying their dues.
“I’d tell them (State Government) to mind their own business.”