The MCC of NSW Trailriders Sub-committee is providing the following information for your use in support of our Parliamentary ePetition.
The Motorcycle Council of NSW encourages you to contact your local member of Parliament to seek their views on trail and adventure bike riding. By contacting them you will alert them to the debate that is due on Thursday 10th November. It also gives you an opportunity to let them know that they have constituents who are riders who are passionate about trail and/or adventure riding and that it is your chosen recreational activity.
The MCC is not providing a ‘form letter’ as regardless of how many form letters are received, these are treated as just one piece of correspondence. By personalising your email or letter to your local MP will treated this as an individual piece of correspondence.
There should be enough information on this webpage for you to pick and chose what is most relevant to you and what is most likely to get their attention. For example, there is a ‘Fact Sheet’ that has information on the number of motorcycle shops in each electorate. You may wish to highlight how many motorcycle shops there are in your area that you support by purchasing bikes, having them serviced or purchasing accessories. This will get your MP’s attention as they want their electorate to continue to prosper. By limiting areas to ride, trail and adventure riding will become less popular and motorcycle shops will close.
Your local MP
If you don’t know who your local MP is, you can find your electorate (State District) at https://elections.nsw.gov.au/Elections/Find-my-electorate and this link has your MPs name and contact details.
You can find further detail about your MP at https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/members/Pages/all-members.aspx?&house=la&tab=browse
You may also find them in this Spreadsheet…
Feel free to use any information from the following:
- That the NSW Parliament acknowledges that Trail and Adventure motorcycling are legitimate sports undertaken by tens of thousands of NSW residents (estimated to be 75,000) every year and these sports require Government support and funding commensurate with their huge popularity.
- That the NSW Parliament recognises that NSW Trail and Adventure motorcyclists support thousands of jobs in NSW. The continual exclusion of Trail and Adventure motorcyclists on public lands in NSW due to land use changes threatens these jobs. Ben Bullen, Lidsdale, Newnes, Meryla, Belanglo & Jellore SF’s are recent examples where land use changes have severely curtailed or completely stopped access for registered, licenced motorcycles. Diminishing riding areas means diminishing economic activity for local communities.
- That the NPWS policy on accessing ‘Single Tracks’ on public lands be changed to allow responsible use of these narrow trails by motorcycles. The majority of these trails are low-impact, generally low speed, away from other forest users and are the very the basis of our sport. Make single-track legal!
For your information, the ePetition asked:
A) That the Minister for the Environment provide funding for the development of a Strategic Plan for trail and adventure motorcycle riding.
Funding for a Strategic Plan has been requested as NSW is one of few States that does not have a Strategic Plan for trail and adventure riding. So no wonder there are unresolved issues. While the MCC’s sub-Committee, in conjunction with Outdoors NSW & ACT, has prepared a Discussion Paper and White Paper (these can be downloaded from
https://www.outdoorsnswact.org/trailbikes) we need a Strategic Plan that has been developed in conjunction with the land managers and other stakeholders. The Strategic Plan also needs an Action Plan to implement the Strategic Plan. You may wish to provide your MP with a link to the Discussion Paper and White Paper
B) Amends National Parks and Wildlife policy, so single track trail riding is permitted in suitable areas.
The National Parks and Wildlife Service continually say that single track trail riding is against their ‘policy’ yet the best they have been able to provide is:- “Vehicle access, including 4-wheel driving and registered trail-bike use, can be appropriate in certain places in certain parks where it is compatible with the conservation and visitor management objectives of the park.” The question is how do we make trail and adventure riding compatible with the conservation and visitor management objectives of the areas we wish to ride?
C) That the Minister for Transport introduce Recreational Registration similar to the current Victorian scheme that enables better compliance with legal requirements by the trail bike communities.
The introduction of a Recreational Registration scheme has been requested so there is a form of registration available that is attractive to riders only ride occasionally and rarely on sealed roads. Having an attractive form of registration will encourage riders who currently ride unregistered to get their bikes registered. A survey of riders found that 76% of respondents would use Recreational Registration if it were available. You can view the survey
HERE…
You should create your own email or letter using any of the information above in conjunction with your own opinions and facts and pass this to you Local Member prior to 10th November.
“The Shire of Manjimup in Western Australia is establishing the Manjimup Trail Bike Hub to create a destination that embraces trail bike riding and becomes a significant visitor attraction in (and around) Manjimup. This has been made possible as Western Australia has a State Trail Bike Strategy.
If Western Australia can establish a significant visitor attraction based on trail riding, why can’t NSW?”
