Discussion: Parks Victoria access fees

Of interest for those of us from Victoria, Australia. I have just been given a peak at a consultants report reviewing entry fee policy for Victorian Parks. This is supposedly a policy for commercial activities. I am concerned that commercial does not mean 'not-for profit'. I have been warned that local interpretation may mean this applies to orienteering events where a fee is charged.
The draft schedule is as follows.
1-99 competitors flat fee $380 plus $1.10 per person and $1 per spectator.
100-499 flat fee increases to $700.
500+ flat fee is a little over $1000.

Its interesting to analyse how this may have an impact on our local events. For an event with 40 competitors, the per capita fee becomes about $10.50. If a family of four turns up to race, the family cost rises to $42. Our current family entry fee is $12.

We have approximately 30 events a year, mostly on Parks land. On an average attendance of 40, Parks might extract $12,000 from the club.

What makes this all the more amusing is that another government department is funding us to increase participation from lower SES members of the community. A classic left hand-right hand issue.

The consultants report has not yet been released. Perhaps its time to run a coordinated political and media campaign to get the pollies attention before this becomes policy. I'll be into press release mode this weekend.

This is one consequence of Adventure Racing charging people $100-$1000 dollars each, where we charge $2-10 (for a better quality event)

"I have been warned that local interpretation may mean this applies to orienteering events where a fee is charged."

Maybe we need to ask people to make a "donation" instead of paying an "entry fee".

I suspect (and hope) this structure won't survive long once it receives political attention (and there's a bit of scope to give it political attention - given that we have a reasonably active orienteer sitting on a margin of 27 votes in Ferntree Gully).

What justification (if any) is given for the flat fee? The per-person rate is more or less in line with what happens in a number of other states and is something we could probably live with if we had to, but the flat fee really hurts small events (particularly in regional areas - a useful angle to run, I would have thought).

Eoin - I don't ever recall seeing snow on any WA O events. How can you say this is better quality? :P

p.s. my snow experience in a NSW AR recently was fun, if a little bright for my liking.

Playing politics on this would be really fun. Almost a lay down misere. I saw a table in the cnsultants report that lists recommended fees for 'commercial' events. Now, lest you think 'commercial' means for profit, there are a number of organisations listed under this heading besides a generic orienteering category. One of them is Little Athletics. The fee structure for Little Aths is the same as for orienteering. Clearly 'commercial' means fee paying. Trouble is, if you go as a group into Parks you are required by law to obtain a permit. To get a permit you need a public liability insurance policy. To fund the insurance policy you need to charge a fee to cover yoru expenses. Once you charge, you are commercial. Its a lovely piece of circular logic. I can just see the Little Aths example giving the media a field day.
I have been chatting with a few people about this. Thinking is towards a coordinated briefing of Bendigo, Ballarat and similar media after the holdiay break. Probably best to hold fire for the moment while the silly season is in progress.

Seems obvious to me - Stop charging event fees for members and build event costs into the annual subscription. Either don't allow non-members to compete, or let them compete for free.
Or just make events pre-entry with no entry fee on the day.

We just need to be strong with Parks Victoria and re-inforce that we are not commercial and do not run commercial events, and therefore don't fall into that category.
If they are stupid enough to challenge us on that, then we go to the politicians and media.

Oxoman's "solution" doesn't address the permitting/insurance issues. The only way around these is not to go as a group, but organise events "ferally" by email or text message, and organise as hare and hounds type where the first one out hangs tape and the last one collects. However, you won't get much mapping done.

No, political/media pressure is the best option, but I suspect it will be followed by a hefty increase in event fees.

A "Members only" approach ultimately will see the sport die off. Prospective new members won't ever get to events under Oxomans's regime.