Despite the federal regulations making entry to Kakadu free for Territorians, locals will still pay for entry to Uluru. Picture: Courtesy of Tourism NT.
Fees stay at Rock but Kakadu is free
Dan Moss
07Nov08
ENTRY fees at Central Australia's biggest attraction have come under fire after Federal regulations made Kakadu free for Territorians.
The Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett reinstated entry fees of $25 at Kakadu National Park east of Darwin, but waived the fees for people living in the NT.NT Senator Nigel Scullion said the way fees are gathered at the moment creates a rule for the Top End and a rule for Central Australia because Uluru-Kata Tjuta isn't free for Territorians.
"We never had a policy that created two classes of visitors. Fees should be abolished, full stop."
Entry to Uluru-Kata Tjuta for three days costs $25.
But Alice Springs Holidays Manager Chris Chambers said a ``fairly minimal'' number of Territorians visit the park "because of the distance".
"You have to want to go there to go there. It's not like Kakadu where you just go to go fishing."
He said: "I support his idea but I don't know how much effect it's going to have."
Visits to the park have declined since 2005, when 349,172 people went.
In 2007 326,207 people went to the park.
So far this year 249,000 people have visited the park.
Margot Marshall from Parks Australia said the park gets about one third of its visitors from Australia, "with most of them coming from the most populous states - New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria - as you'd expect".
A spokesman for Mr Garrett said: "The Government has no plans to introduce changes at Uluru-Kata Tjuta."
