Help Save the Kokoda Trail!

Gallipoli tourism numbers are UP – Kokoda tourism numbers are DOWN!

Gallipoli, which is 15,374 Km from Sydney, is managed by the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) – this year more than 10,000 Australians are expected to attend the Anzac Dawn Service on 25 April.

Kokoda, which is just 2,742 km from Sydney, is managed by the Department of Climate Change – this year less that 500 Australians are expected to travel to PNG to attend the Anzac Dawn Service.

Kokoda is closer, cheaper, and more meaningful for young Australians who understand that at Gallipoli we fought for Britain and lost, while at Kokoda we fought for Australia and won!

Since the Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA) took control of the Kokoda Trail in 2009 the number of Kokoda trekkers has plummeted by 42%, from 5,621 in 2008, when it was managed by PNG, to 3,300 since Canberra took it over despite them investing some $100 million of taxpayers funds on their ‘Kokoda Initiative’!

Soon after Canberra took it over ‘Heritage’ was removed from their title when DEWHA was rebadged as the Department of Sustainability Environment Water Population and Communities (DSEWPC).

More recently DSEWPC was rebadged as the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW).

In PNG, DCCEEW officials work within the Conservation Environment Promotion Authority (CEPA) which is responsible to the Minister for Environment, Conservation and Climate Change.

The two agencies responsible for pilgrimage tourism, DVA and the PNG Tourism Promotion Authority (TPA), have been sidelined in the management of the Kokoda Trail which has emerged as PNG most popular tourism destination.

The management system Canberra has imposed on PNG could best be described as an unaccountable ‘dog’s breakfast!’.

Australians who live outside the Canberra bubble are puzzled by the fact that Veterans Affairs are responsible for the protection, interpretation and management of our World War 1 icon, Gallipoli, while Climate Change is responsible for our World War 2 icon, the Kokoda Trail.

To help PNG realize the potential of the Kokoda Trail as a world-class pilgrimage tourism destination we need your help to sign this petition: