Respect for the bush or glib tourist promotion?
There’s much to be said for initiatives to promote social cohesion but handing the job over to the Karstens and Margys to convey the message is bound to yield pap, isn’t it?
On September 12th Radio National’s Geraldine Doogue hosted a Saturday Extra discussion about the pandemic-driven 2020 upsurge in domestic tourism. She then read the following message from Kirsty Cockburn:
“I must implore you to explore one extremely concerning aspect of this Australian rush for four-wheel drives and caravans and camping. We live in the Bellinger Valley and it’s getting smashed with illegal camping. But even the legal people have no idea how to treat the bush – the impact of their vehicles compacting soils and wasting our regeneration efforts on rivers. And their ablution techniques: toilet paper and shit everywhere!
“I just returned from the Territory and it’s the same there. We need a ‘respect your backyard’ campaign before a tourism campaign to further exploit Australia’s regional areas. We can’t cope here: we have one – yes, one – ranger for our entire shire to face an onslaught of visitors.
“It’s the elephant in the room and we’re seriously sick of tourism campaigns that are glamorous but which don’t teach Australians how to treat the bush. Foreigners, especially from Europe and New Zealand, seem comparatively more respectful on most occasions.”
Glamorous tourism
It’s not just ill-conceived tourist campaigns, is it? What about ABC TV’s repetitive renditions of doe-eyed enthusiasts singing ‘We are One’ and (in Adelaide) the banal promo about the radio announcer who gets out of bed in the morning and buys a cup of coffee on her way to work? And now they’ve added a load of tosh about love, love, loving the ABC. Jesus wept.
There’s much to be said for initiatives to promote social cohesion but handing the job over to the Karstens and Margys to convey the message is bound to yield pap, isn’t it?
Imagine, instead, that the Kirsty Cockburns of this world had been consulted when those ABC TV promos were being considered: not only would campers be encouraged to show greater respect for the bush but they might learn a few tricks – moving up closer to the vehicle in front at the traffic lights so that those seeking to ‘Turn left anytime with care’ might do so, for instance – that would enhance life in the city.
As for domestic tourism, the current pandemic presents the Federal Government with an opportunity to act genuinely (as against flim-flam announcements) in the public interest. That’s another story, an opinion piece for a later post that will elaborate on the issue alluded to in Chapter 5 of the ebook.
An opinion piece, this post is an aside from the main focus – Australian writing in its geographical setting – of this blog.
