The Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment estimates there were 245,000 freedom campers in New Zealand in the 2019 calendar year, with 154,000 of them international visitors. Photo / File
The Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment estimates there were 245,000 freedom campers in New Zealand in the 2019 calendar year, with 154,000 of them international visitors. Photo / File
Tougher penalties and fines are on the cards for freedom campers as the Government seeks people's views on a crackdown on irresponsible camping.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment (MBIE) also wants people's views about whether freedom camping vehicles should be self-contained and what type of self-containment vehicles shouldhave.
A move to making permanently plumbed onboard toilets compulsory could mean an end to the budget sleeper or so-called 'sliding door' vans which have been blamed for some of the issues associated with freedom camping.
Two of the options include making it mandatory for freedom camping in a vehicle to be done in a certified self-contained vehicle, or allowing for non-certified vehicles if they are staying at a site with toilets.
MBIE is also proposing tougher penalties and fines for those caught flouting the rules.
It is holding a public forum at the Great Lake Centre in Taupo tomorrow, Friday, April 30, from 11am to 1pm for people to have their say, including the types of toilets that are suitable for a vehicle to be certified as self-contained, and what types of vehicles are suitable.
The discussion document on MBIE's website says in recent years the increasing number of freedom campers has raised concern from some communities around freedom campers' cumulative impact on the environment, and the cost to host them.
"In particular, this concern has focused on the subset of freedom campers who stay in cars, or vans with sleeping platforms, that are not self-contained. This is impacting communities' attitudes towards visitors and their willingness to host them – and impacting on the social licence for tourism."
Tourism Minister Stuart Nash, who is driving the proposals, says in his role as tourism minister and as an MP, one of the most consistent complaints he has heard relate to freedom camping, particularly campers who travel in vehicles with a sleeping platform but without toilet facilities.
"The most consistent complaints I hear about the tourism sector relate to abuse of the freedom camping rules," Nash said while releasing the proposals earlier this month.
"A sub-group of visitors are spoiling the experience for more responsible campers, and for locals who are left to clean up the mess."
Nash said he had no issues with self-contained campervans - "we love those" - but vans with no onboard toilet were harming the country's environment and its "100 per cent pure" brand.
Tourism Minister Stuart Nash says he welcomes self-contained freedom campers. Photo / File
"If they park up and there are no facilities there is only one place they can go and it's not in their van. I don't think this plays into our values and the brand we're selling, and I think it erodes the social licence for tourism within our communities."
The proposals did not target budget tourists who, according to MBIE statistics, spent $7912 per trip to New Zealand - almost double the $4890 per trip spent by well-heeled visitors hiring premium vehicles.
But it would no longer be possible for firms to provide a bucket with a piece of plastic wrap over it, as was sometimes the case, and claim that made vans self-contained.
Research published by MBIE in 2020 found that 74 per cent of international visitors who freedom camped had hired or purchased a vehicle that had a toilet. However, only 28 per cent of them actually used it.
Taupo environmental advocate Didymo Dave Cade, who also acts as a freedom camping ambassador for the Taupo District Council, says he thinks the idea of having freedom camping restricted to self-contained vehicles only is "a really good idea".
"I'd be really in favour of permanent plumbing in vans," Dave says.
Taupō District Council's volunteer freedom camping ambassador Dave 'Didymo Dave' Cade with a group of young German campers at Hipapatua/Reid's Farm Reserve in October 2019. Photo / File.
As he goes around welcoming campers to Taupo, he often comes across people in so-called 'sliding door' vans who claim to be self-contained because they have a toilet.
He says while the majority of freedom campers were good, a minority were not.
"You can tell the ones you have to look out for just by the body language. I've struck the odd one that's said 'we're self-contained' and I say 'show me your toilet then please'.
"They show me the toilet and it's still wrapped in plastic, and I say 'you're having me on ... how about you find your way over to Reid's Farm and we'll be happy'. And they usually go. You've got to be a little bit firm."
NZMCA chief executive Bruce Lochore has welcomed the proposed changes to the future of freedom camping. However, he warned the stricter interpretation of the new laws could leave one in 10 of their members caught short.
He said NZMCA would push back on the proposal for self-containment status to only be granted to vehicles with 'plumbed toilets'.
"At present some 5500 of our members' vehicles (that's about 10 per cent of our membership) have met the strict requirements of the CSC Standard and we certainly believe such vehicles should be allowed for."
Freedom camping in the Taupo district has been less of an issue since 2017 when the Taupo District Council introduced a bylaw which restricted non self-contained freedom camping to just four sites around the district.
At the time, the majority of public feedback was that the community wanted freedom camping away from the shores of Lake Taupō and wanted non-self-contained camping restricted.
Availability of freedom camping spots further dried up when DoC closed its Omori Stream freedom camping area amid concerns about waste and overcrowding and the Five Mile Bay freedom camping area was closed after it was returned to iwi ownership in June 2020.
■Go to www.mbie.govt.nz/have-your-say to read the Supporting Sustainable Freedom Camping discussion document or make a submission. A public meeting will be held in the Great Lake Centre on Friday, April 30 from 11am to 1pm.
What is changing and when?
The Government is set on making freedom camping more sustainable by 2022. There are four proposals:
1. Either ban non self-contained vehicles from freedom camping or make staying at campsites with toilet facilities mandatory for non self-contained vehicles.
2. New fines and regulatory tools including increasing maximum penalties from $200 to $1000.
3. Whether the requirements for self-containment should either be those set out in the current self-containment standard, which allows a variety of types of toilets, or whether toilets should be permanently plumbed in.
Feedback closes Sunday, May 16. See MBIE's Have Your Say website for details or to submit a comment.
