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Boomer MP Demands Rock Access, Yeets Indigenous Culture Off the Cliff

Photographer by Factabot

A Nationals MP just picked a fight with traditional owners over Mount Arapiles—because god forbid someone can’t cling to a boulder in peace. Her speech triggered a walkout, climbers cried oppression, and First Nations voices got tuned out—again. Welcome to colonisation, with carabiners.

A Nationals MP has reignited a long-simmering cultural firestorm by demanding continued public access to climb Mount Arapiles—despite objections from the Traditional Owners of the land.

The Victorian peak, also known as Dyurrite, holds deep spiritual significance for the Wotjobaluk people.

But apparently, that’s less important than Cheryl from the suburbs being able to scale it with carabiners and a GoPro.

MP Anne Webster took to Parliament to criticise Parks Victoria and the Barengi Gadjin Land Council (BGLC), which has sought to limit climbing in specific areas out of respect for cultural heritage.

In her speech, Webster accused the state of creating “exclusion zones” and framed it as an assault on “public access.” What followed?

A walkout from Labor MPs, disgust from First Nations leaders, and online climbing forums exploding like someone had just banned chalk.

Webster’s argument is the kind of boilerplate we’ve come to expect: public land should be for everyone, and recreation trumps regulation.

But here’s the kicker—this isn’t about blocking access for sport.

It’s about protecting sacred sites.

The BGLC has been asking for cultural recognition and managed care of Dyurrite for years.

They finally get some movement through co-management, and now it’s suddenly a “rights issue” for MPs who’ve probably never camped without Wi-Fi.

The conversation echoes Uluru’s closure to climbers in 2019.

That debate, too, was framed as “freedom versus culture” when really, it was about whether non-Indigenous Australians could handle hearing the word no.

Now, the same dynamic plays out again: ancient history, living culture, and an outdoor industry acting like spiritual significance is just a minor route obstruction.

🎒 Clara’s Cultural Gear Check: – Climbing access ≠ cultural erasure, but context matters.

– Traditional Owners aren’t “denying freedom”—they’re asking not to be disrespected.

– MPs using sacred sites as talking points? Peak performative politics.

– Maybe learn the Dreaming before you pack your rope.

For the Wotjobaluk people, Dyurrite isn’t scenery—it’s heritage, it’s memory, it’s survival.

When politicians frame that as an inconvenience, they’re not just missing the point.

They’re actively erasing it.

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