Time to Roam Magazine Issue 12 - December/January 2015 | Page 10

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upfront industry news

The key to quality
The caravan industry’s
peak lobby group has relaunched an accreditation
system aiming to lift
manufacturing standards
and protect buyers.

FREE CAMPING
DEBATE RAGES IN WA
BY JENNIFER PERRY

Western Australia has emerged as
the latest flashpoint in the country’s
ongoing war over free camping.
Free camping advocates have called
on travellers to boycott Broome after the
local council announced a crackdown
on illegally parked campers.
The council went so far as to post
unwelcoming road signs at shire
entrances, sparking ire from free
camping followers on social media sites.
In the far south of the state, the
Shire of Esperance has become
embroiled in debate over whether
to seek “RV friendly town” status.
The council is proposing to trial a low
cost site for up to eight self-contained
RVs at the local sports ground,
however local caravan park owners
have expressed strong opposition.
Esperance Bay Holiday Park
operator Nigel Gardan said the loss of
eight RVs each night for his business
would come at an annual cost of
more than $100,000; the equivalent
of hiring three staff members.
“We also object to using public
facilities for the site – when kids do their
sports over summer there they will have
caravans and RVs at their ground, this
doesn’t make sense,” Mr Gardan said.
“And how will they enforce

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only eight spots a night?”
Mr Gardan believes that Esperance
is already an RV friendly town and does
not need to sign up to the Caravan
and Motorhome Club of Australia’s
(CMCA) RV Friendly town scheme.
“It’s wrong that if you want to call
yourself RV friendly and put up a
sign saying this you have to pay the
CMCA for the privilege,” he said.
“The CMCA are supposed to
be a club, but they’re not, they’re
a business. I guess they have to
make their money but so do we.”
Arthur Bugden runs a Facebook page
and website advocating “free choice
camping’” and says travellers who invest
their dollars in a vehicle allowing them
to camp independently object to being
forced into any type of accommodation.
He says commercial caravan
parks charge fees that are not
commensurate with the modest needs
of self-contained vehicle owners.
“We believe that the caravan park
industry needs to move with the
times, otherwise they won’t survive.
“One thing that is often not
recognised is that travellers spend
money as if they are residents of
the town that they are visiting. In
many cases this is vital to the local
communities,” Mr Bugden said.

An accreditation key is the
visual symbol buyers are
being urged to keep an
eye out for to ensure their
Stuart Lamont,
prospective purchase meets
CEO, CIAA
Australian industry standards.
Caravan Industry
Association of Australia (CIAA) Chief Executive
Stuart Lamont says the standards being set by the
organisation are among the toughest in the world.
“It’s important that consumers purchasing products
in our industry are supplied with products that are fit for
their intended purpose and that are able to stand up to
the rigours of the Australian landscape,” he says.
“Consumers need to have an easily recognisable
symbol giving them the confidence to be sure of the next
RV purchase. The accreditation key will provide it.”
Mr Lamont says there’s been a strong industry
response to the accreditation program so far with 78
caravan and motorhome manufacturers singing up.
The accreditation key has also been rolled out for use in
CIAA’s Caravan and Holiday Parks Accreditation Program
and next year and will be extended to cover other parts of the
industry including dealers and service and repair firms.