Time to Roam Magazine Issue 4 - August/September 2013 | Página 8

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upfront news

Creative goes
to Traveller

Take care with
refrigerators

Melbourne caravan manufacturer
Creative Caravans has ceased
trading and gone into receivership,
putting 30 employees out of work.
The private family owned business was
established by Micahel Vona in 2003 and
owes creditors more than $2 million.
Traveller Caravans, also based
in Campbellfield, has purchased
the Creative trading name and
future orders from the receivers
for an undisclosed sum.
Receiver Peter Fraczek says it’s
unclear how much money raised from
the sale of assets will go towards
covering the company’s debts, however
worker entitlements would be paid
out of a Federal Government fund.

The risk posed by gas installations in
caravans has been brought home by a
recent accident in which two Melbourne
girls suffered second degree burns.
A caravan exploded near Stawell
in early July after the girls aged
eight and 10 lit a candle.
It’s believed a gas fridge was removed from
a caravan, but the gas wasn’t disconnected.
Meanwhile the Tasmania coroner has found
a faulty gas fitting was to blame for three
deaths of three men in a caravan last year.
Rodney Williams, 53, his son Matthew,
26, and Terry Bartle, 39 died on a hunting
trip in the Tasmanian Highlands.
The Coroner blamed a faulty gas fitting
attached to a refrigerator that should
not have been used inside a caravan.

Parks News
Watch out NSW
Long-term residents of NSW caravan
parks are being warned they will face
eviction without warning under new
laws proposed the state Government.
The Combined Pensioners and
Superannuants Association of NSW says
the Residential (Land Lease) Communities
Bill 2013 will allow operators to reclassify a
residential site from long-term to short-term
and then evict home owners without notice.
The Bill is due to be introduced to
State Parliament later this year.

Tassie welcomes RVs

Headline fight in SA

New park for Bribie

Tasmania is working to overturn its
reputation as an unfriendly destination
for caravans and motorhomes.
The Caravan and Motorhome
Association of Australia has now
listed more than 25 Tasmanian
towns as RV Friendly.
Tasmanian Tourism Council chief
Luke Martin said the state needed to
further develop a mix of tourist parks
and free camping areas in order to
maximise its appeal to RV users.

SA Independent Senator Nick Xenophon
has offered legal help to residents of an
Adelaide caravan park facing eviction.
Holdfast Bay council wants to evict
permanent and semi-permanent residents
from the Brighton Caravan Park to
upgrade facilities for tourists. Some have
lived there for more than 20 years.
The redevelopment includes 20
new up-market cabins on the site
where the residents live, along with
luxury tents and a new kiosk.

Queensland’s Moreton Bay Council
has approved a major new caravan
park and resort for Bribie Island on the
shores of Pumicestone Passage.
The Sandstone Point Family Holiday
Resort will have 79 powered caravan
sites, 49 cabins and 22 tent sites.
Bribie Island Chamber of Commerce
president Rhonda Cockinos said it would
provide a welcome boost to the local
economy, with a hotel, motel and museum
part of the planned development.

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