Glamping trial in national parks does not make for happy campers

4 hours ago 2

Editorial

October 27, 2025 — 4.52pm

Prime NSW national park campsites are being loved to death, and the cash-strapped Minns government has seized on the overcrowding as a potentially tidy little earner to help pay the bills and guarantee glamping spots for the better-heeled while bumping the rest to the back of the queue.

However, the proposal to partly privatise national park campsites is sure to be met strong opposition as some fear it is the end of NSW wilderness as many know it and a possible wedge for further privatisation of recreation and conservation lands.

Australians love getting outdoors, the national parks campsites provide a perfect opportunity.

The National Parks and Wildlife Service has called for expressions of interest from businesses to provide “supported camping” in 16 national parks and reserves, including The Basin in the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, The Ruins in Booti Booti National Park and Kosciuszko National Park. Selected commercial providers would be given early access to book parts of campgrounds up to 365 days in advance – more than double the 180 days permitted to families.

The scheme has started in Kosciuszko and other licences will come into effect next March, making camping “more accessible” by providing “supported camping services”, such as tent or caravan hire, equipment delivery (for items such as bedding and cooking gear) and food packages.

Camping has soared since COVID-19, as retired Baby Boomers have taken to the roads. NSW logged about 1.8 million overnight national park campground stays in 2023-24.

Environment Minister Penny Sharpe told parliament last week that the move was partially to improve accessibility for people who could not buy or carry all necessary gear and partly about “generating revenue”.

“We want as many people as possible to enjoy our national parks. We want to find people who will do that in a different way that does not depend on their being a super-fit bushwalker,” she said.

Encouragement of privately owned glamping facilities in national parks represents something of an about-face by the Minns government. In 2021, the then new opposition leader Chris Minns drew a clear line between Labor and the government on privatisation and ruled out further privatisations of state-owned assets, linking the then Coalition government’s asset recycling with higher state debt, worse services and rising bills.

There are nearly 900 national parks in NSW and about 350 campgrounds. But the government has chosen only the most popular to run the trial. It is difficult to avoid the sense that favoured sites have been hand-picked for privateers and profit. As it is, there are not enough places at peak holiday times, and in the future ordinary families may just have to holiday somewhere west of the Great Dividing Range.

For years, conservation and recreation have been mutually dependent values in NSW. There cannot be one without the other. Their fate is too inexplicably bound to be left to government whim alone. The signing of leases with private operators should not be undertaken lightly or secretly. Scrutiny and approval of a parliamentary committee should occur before privatisation arrangements are made permanent to ensure community satisfaction.

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