The case to re-open school bush camps in NSW

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the lengths that our society is prepared to go to prevent citizens from becoming infected with the virus.

While the forced shutdown of businesses and institutions has come at an enormous social and economic cost that will take years to recover from, clearly it has also saved the lives of countless Australians.

In some respects forcing businesses to close is much simpler than the process of allowing them to reopen.

The case of the Great Aussie Bush Camp and similar school-based overnight camps demonstrate this point.

As the Newcastle Herald highlighted last month, how can it be reasonable that pubs, clubs, restaurants and brothels were allowed to reopen before a facility that provides significant mental and physical health benefits to its young attendees?

In addition the business, which employs 80 people, spends about $100,000 a year at the local butcher. Tens of thousands of dollars are also spent with local coach operators.

Yet the state government advised at the time that its decision was based on the best available health advice.

As if to add insult to injury, the Victorian government announced on the weekend that it was allowing school bush camps in regional parts of that state to reopen next term.

In announcing the decision, Victorian Education Minister James Merlino said school camps were an important part of a student's education and they provided a much-needed boost for school camp programs and accommodation providers in regional areas.

The NSW Department of Health said on Monday that its most recent directive about school camps was based on the advice of the NSW Chief Health Officer who had advised there was an increased risk of COVID-19 transmission in settings with shared facilities. The advice, which was issued at the time of the Tangara Girls School cluster in Sydney, did not make a distinction between schools in metropolitan areas and those in regional areas.

Most significantly the department said it would be updating its most recent advice later this week.

It is hoped that common sense will prevail and school camps will be allowed to reopen in regional areas in time for term four.

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