Crackdown on cheapskate campervanners

Campervans parked overnight in residential areas and leaving behind a "disgusting" mess, has become a "major problem" around Australia’s coastline, according to a Queensland caravan industry spokesperson.

Speaking on ABC Brisbane radio, Ron Chapman, the CEO of the Caravan Industry Association of Queensland, said that backpackers in rental campervans are among the worst culprits, parking overnight near houses and in public carparks, disturbing residents and leaving behind waste that has to be cleaned up by local councils at ratepayers’ expense.

He said it's an ongoing problem not only along Queensland’s popular Capricorn and Sunshine Coasts but in coastal hot-spots around Sydney and Melbourne.

"This has absolutely nothing to do with bush camping or freedom camping; this is people who just don’t have any respect for anyone else," Chapman said. "They drop rubbish and they make a mess; some of the things the councils have to clean up are absolutely disgusting... it is costing every ratepayer money, and every ratepayer should be absolutely outraged by it."

Councils along the Sunshine Coast could spend up to 10 percent of their cleaning budget on dealing with the aftermath, he said.

"In most cases people understand that the majority of these (RV) units are the young backpackers who are free and easy, want everything as cheap as they can, don’t have a care in the world," he said. "But that doesn’t get away from the fact that there are others more seemingly responsible people who also do this in inappropriate places, and certainly they give others a bad name."

Chapman said that some Councils overseeing popular backpacker haunts including Airlie Beach and Hervey Bay are clamping down on the practice.

"Hervey Bay at one stage invested power in the local security patrols at night so they were able to issue tickets on behalf of the Council," he said. "They do it in a nice way, they say look you just can’t park here I’m sorry, there are other places to park like the local caravan parks or whatever, that’s where you must go. If they find them again the same night doing the same thing then they’ll issue them a ticket."

Councils often face an uphill battle, though, with a spokesperson for the Byron Shire Council recently admitting the Council was powerless to prevent campers sleeping overnight in vans parked in residential streets and car parks of Byron Bay.

"Council is prevented by the Local  Government Act 1993 (NSW) from prohibiting camper vehicles being used as overnight accommodation in streets and car parks," Byron Shire Council general manager Graeme Faulkner said.

Instead, the Byron Shire Council had instigated no-parking zones between 1am and 5am on a number of sites, enforced by council rangers. It has also written to campervan hire companies requesting assistance in advising campers to use approved camping grounds.

The Whitsunday Regional Council has also cracked down on people sleeping in campervans around Waterson Way in Airlie Beach, with regular patrols resulting in $200 fines issued for vans parked overnight in designated non-camping zones.

Another potential solution to the problem has been for councils to set aside areas for RVs, like sports grounds or schools, during peak times, but this can also be problematic, says Chapman, with the risk of inadequate facilities and revenue being taken away from legitimate caravan park operators.

"From the caravan park side of the industry's point of view, we say why should they be allowed to do it, when they don’t have to pay all the massive charges, like rates and land tax and this sort of thing which a caravan park has to do? That becomes unfair competition," he said.

"We have to remember that with the caravan parks on the Sunshine Coast, the average occupancy over a 12 month period is something like 44 per cent. So apart from the real peak times of about two weeks at Christmas, and over Easter, and times like that, there are stacks and stacks of sites available on the Sunshine Coast for use," he said.

A Council proposal to provide nine new free campsites along Queensland’s Fraser Coast has met with uproar from local caravan park operators.

Representatives from the Caravan Parks Association of Queensland say that the location of the sites, with one proposed for the Maryborough Showgrounds, would take business away from already struggling caravan parks in the vicinity.

The Council argues that the free sites would help bring more tourist dollars into the area, especially those of grey nomads in motorhomes, many of which are currently avoiding the Fraser Coast due to the lack of free campsites.

The Campervan & Motorhome Club of Australia (CMCA), which represents 60,000 members, is a fierce advocate for the establishment of more affordable RV sites particularly for those with more modern, self-contained motorcampers who don’t need or want to pay for all the facilities a caravan park provides.

More than 100 towns around Australia now participate in the CMCA’s RV Friendly Town scheme, that encourages towns to provide basic necessities for RV tourists, including short and longer term rest areas (with access to a dump point), 24 hour medical services, a pharmacy, RV parking adjacent to the retail area and potable water.

The CMCA is also behind a recent initiative to develop a Code of Conduct for tourists hiring RVs in Australia, especially those without on board, self-contained toilet and shower facilities.

The first meeting of the Australian RV Camping Forum was held in Sydney last month, and included representatives from RV rental companies including Kea Campers, Apollo Motorhome Holidays, Jucy Rentals, and Around Australia Motorhomes, as well as tourism and accommodation groups including Tourism Tasmania, Tourism New South Wales, Backpacker Operators Association, Backpacker Tourism Advisory Panel, and YHA Ltd.

New Zealand has implemented a similar Code of Conduct for RV tourists, giving advice on environmental issues, designated places to camp, the appropriate use of facilities, and the correct disposal of grey and black water waste.