The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has moved swiftly to replace a loose slat on the lookout at The Pass after a two-year-old child almost fell through it on the weekend.
And an NPWS spokesperson says the entire structure is set to be replaced ‘soon’.
The mother of eighteen-month-old twins told Murdoch media she was guarding the stairs at the lookout while her sons were peering through the slats.
‘But in the two seconds I did that, the boys leant on the railing… something happened and they fell, one of the boys was going to fall down the cliff… it’s a huge drop into the ocean,’ the Northern Star website reported her as saying.
The spokesperson said NPWS ‘responded immediately to a report that a vertical slat had fallen out of the lookout railing on the weekend, presenting a risk to children’.
‘The damage was reported to the NPWS via the Environment Line by the mother of a young child who visited the lookout,’ he added.
‘The site was barricaded immediately and the damage fixed this morning [Tuesday, July 31].
‘The NPWS conducts regular inspections of infrastructure to ensure public safety,’ the spokesperson assured readers.
‘The Fishermans Lookout is soon being replaced,’ he said.
There are situations all over the Shire that need urgent attention from National Parks. Government needs to be supporting out parks they are our best asset and important for wellbeing of people and planet.
We need to see more rangers, interpretive signage and engaging communication so that our visitors and locals value what we have.
There is often one ranger on the entire Shire and only from 9-5 how can this be sustainable and won’t other things go unseen and addressed if more resources and attention is placed in these areas
Remind me not to lean on the fence at Minyon !
“NPWS conducts regular inspections of infrastructure to ensure public safety” How often and how thorough? This one obviously slipped through. Thankfully not the child.