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Climbing Uluru could be banned under a draft proposal. Don't climb Uluru: CLC Thursday, 25 June 2009 By Amy McQuire NATIONAL, July 10, 2009: Traditional owners have been calling for an Uluru climbing ban for years and many tour operators are supportive of the idea, the Central Land Council (CLC) says. But the council says if Australians can't bring themselves to respect the culture of Aboriginal traditional owners, then they should at least consider the safety issues associated with the climb. A ban on scaling the world's largest monolith has been floated in a new draft plan on the management of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, covering the period for 2009-19. It cites cultural, environmental and safety concerns as reasons behind a potential ban. But the ban has been met with opposition by both the Prime Minister and the Coalition. "I think it would be very sad if we got to a stage though where Australians and frankly our guests from abroad weren't able to enjoy that experience ... to climb it," Mr Rudd told radio 3AW. Mr Rudd differs from his Environment Minister Peter Garrett, who says that although a ban has not yet been decided, his personal preference was not to climb the rock and that a debate should be had on the matter. CLC Director David Ross today said that if opponents to the climbing ban couldn't understand the cultural wishes of the traditional owners, than they should at least view it from a safety perspective. "Traditional owners have shared this culturally significant site with visitors for many years now," Mr Ross said. "They have shared stories about why Uluru and Kata Tjuta are both important to them. They have asked people to respect their wishes for them not to climb and more and more people are accepting that. "However, those politicians and outspoken supporters of the climb should also remember that at least 35 people have died on the climb and many more have been injured or fallen ill during it. "If the climb was a road and that number of casualties was suffered within a few hundred metres of each other some drastic action would be taken. "In this case the action should be to close the climb." Mr Ross says the view that a ban would affect tourism was not as significant as it appeared. "An increasing number of tour operators are also supportive of the climb being closed. Closing the climb is less of an issue to tourists and operators than some would like people to think," Mr Ross said. WHY IS ULURU SO SIGNIFICANT? This is the "Do Not Climb" park note placed on behalf of the traditional owners: "We, the Anangu traditional owners of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, have a responsibility to teach and safeguard visitors to our own land. "We feel great sadness when a person dies or is hurt on our land. We would like to educate people on the reasons we ask you not to climb and if you choose to climb, we ask that you do so safely. "Cultural reasons: We ask visitors not to climb Uluru because of its spiritual significance as the traditional route of the ancestral Mala men on their arrival at Uluru. "We prefer visitors explore Uluru through the wide range of guided walks and interpretive attractions on offer at the park." To read the statement in full, please see the following link: http://www.environment.gov.au/parks/publications/uluru/pubs/dontclimb.pdf Printer Friendly Version  Email Story to a Friend Submit Letter to Editor * A NOTE TO OUR ONLINE READERS: The multi-award winning National Indigenous Times is an independent newspaper and receives no government funding whatsoever. Our print edition is published every fortnight, but because of the public interest nature of our reporting, we ensure all of our stories are available online at no cost. Thus, we rely entirely on advertising and subscriptions to survive, and hope you'll consider subscribing to NIT's print edition to help us continue our work, or even just browse our Online Shop.

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