Boot camp Melbourne

Since the passing of the Crown Land Acts Amendment (Lease and Licence Terms) Bill in August 2009, all activities associated with outdoor recreation will be requirred to have a licence.

The final part of the process to introduce the bill is the finalisation of the fee structure that will need to take into consideration the wide range of activities from walking groups, surf schools, horse riding clubs, dolphin swim tours through to the fitness industry such as personal trainers and outdoor group fitness operators.

Currently their is a mixture of public land management from local councils through to Parks Victoria. Currently the management of coastal areas such as the foreshore areas of Port Phillip Bay fall under the local councils such as Bayside or Port Phillip.

The current fee structure is an initial fee of $165 for use of National Parks plus:
$1.10 per adult/day
$0.70 per student/day

The current fee structure is based on the user of public land having access for the entire day not for a 60 minute personal training session. Having a pro-rota approach to the fee structure will accomodate public land users such as persoanl trainers who may only use a particular park or foreshore area for 60 minutes per day.

The future arrangement will require the fee structure outlined by the Department of Sustainability and Environrment (DSE) be adopted by local councils managing crown land.

The licenses will be subject to the conditions set out by DSE to maintain the biodiversity, cultural heritage or visitor safety based on a non-exclusive, non-competitve basis.

From next year the newly developed fee structure will be adopted universally across all Parks, State Forests, foreshore areas and Crown land reserves under the jurisdiction of DSE.
After my discussions with Helen Gwilliam, Principal Policy Officer, Public Land Division, Department of Sustainability and Environment the fee structure is purely an administrative charge to cover the management and issuing of the licenses whether it is for a walking group or a boot camp.

This will be a much welcomed repreive from the current arrangement from some councils who charge fees that are not in alignment with the type of activities or revenue generation capacities of commercial fitness operators.

Currently on Councils in NSW and WA, Councils are charging prohibitive fees that create an environemnt whereby the economic viability of commercial fitness operators  is compromised to such a degree that conducting a business is not sustainable.
This leads to the unfortunate situation that operators may feel pressured to compromise client safety by increasing the client/trainer ratio or passing on the fees to the consumer. Suddenly an option to use our beautiful parks and reserves becomes cost prohibitive for the average person.
This is a great opportunity for our 2 industry bodies to provide a valuable insight and recommendations for guidelines and fee structures.

Although the fee structure wil need to accomodate a wide range of users and operators, this will be a unique opportunity for personal trainers and group fitness operators to be included in the process.