Page 3469 - Week 10 - Thursday, 20 October 2022

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to four years. These views do not bode well with the expectations that good progress can be made on urgently needed mountain biking facility upgrades.

It is patently obvious that investment in mountain biking facilities at Stromlo Forest Park is no longer keeping up with the needs of regional mountain biking competitors and the demands of a rapidly growing sport both locally and nationally. There is massive competition from many areas in Australia, most supported by government grants for new and improved facilities. There are plans for a major development in the Illawarra escarpment due in 2023; plans for 155 kilometres of trails at Mogo as part of the bushfire recovery program; Fox Creek in South Australia is getting 72 kilometres of trails; and a feasibility study is being undertaken in Georges River, New South Wales to replace the illegal trails with an approved facility. There are new trails at Mount Wellington in Tasmania, and improvements at Bunya Mountains in Queensland, Mount Owen in Queenstown, Tasmania, and at Glenrock near Newcastle.

This is an extensive list of new or improved sites competing with Mount Stromlo as a venue for mountain biking. As a result of the short-sighted attitude by this government towards infrastructure development in the ACT, the community is left with few options but to ride away to other places in Australia, and they do not have to go far, to be honest. They ride across the border to Bright, Wangaratta and the Wodonga area mainly because they are brilliant for cycling. They travel to Adelaide, Brisbane and Tasmania. All these places are the current go-to mountain biking destinations, and where the bikers go the cash goes in tourism dollars, in sponsorship deals and in local expenditure, because mountain biking equals cash for the economy.

The biggest and brightest growing star was Tasmania, where a farsighted government set their sights on becoming the leading destiny for cycling tourism in Australia. The Tasmanian government in 2016 developed a clear strategy and vision, showing great leadership, and then backed it up with extensive and ongoing funding. They set a priority for building infrastructure—more tracks, routes and trails—by investing $1 million for the St Helens mountain bike trail network and $800,000 in the Blue Derby mountain bike trails. They set the priority for education and support that leads industry and community development, committing $6 million to establishing a cycle tourism fund to make this happen. They set, as a priority, experience-development plans to position Tasmania as Australia’s best cycling destination. They did this through a new tourism cycling strategy, which aims to:

… guide the development of Tasmania’s cycling tracks and trails, grow and promote experiences and events, and improve safety for all cyclists.

They achieved 38,000 visitors in their first year, and that number continues to grow steadily—that is Tasmania, not Canberra—further growing their visitor economy, drawing more visitors to their state, across many regions, and creating more jobs.

Instead, the ACT government went in the reverse direction, several years ago, by destroying valuable mountain biking infrastructure by clearing Corin Forest plantations and obliterating the trails in the process. And now Stromlo. It is unfortunate that this government seems to consider that an initial investment in sporting and recreational facilities in the ACT is significant to meet the user and community needs for extended periods of time.


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