The contradictions of freedom : freedom camping tensions, tourism governance and changing social relationships in the Christchurch and Selwyn districts of New Zealand : a thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Sociology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
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Date
2019
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Massey University
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Abstract
In 2011, the National led government of New Zealand hastily enacted the Freedom Camping
Act (2011) in order to accommodate the bourgeoning number of foreign tourists expected to
arrive for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. This was despite opposition concerns that existing public
infrastructure, and particularly sanitation facilities, would not be able to meet the growth in
demand. In the years since the introduction of FCA (2011), the popularity of freedom camping
primarily among budget conscious Europeans has increased and there has been an ever
growing number of freedom campers arriving on New Zealand’s shores. Freedom camping is
defined in the Act as camping in self-contained and non-self-contained vehicles on public land
managed by local governments or the Department of Conservation. Promoted by the national
government and tourism industry for its potential to contribute to national tourism revenue,
public and political concerns have surfaced around the social, economic, cultural and
environmental costs and benefits of freedom camping. Significant points of tension and conflict
have come to characterise freedom camping which illuminate multiple contradictions both in its
conceptualisation and the way it is experienced by various groups.
Freedom camping is embedded in neoliberal governance and discourse and is a policy directive
enacted in national legislation. However, its management is devolved to local governments and
its effects are highly localised. In this thesis I examine the different management approaches to
freedom camping and the effects of these approaches in two neighbouring areas of New
Zealand’s South Island: the Christchurch and Selwyn districts. Christchurch is a major urban
area and tourism hub and since 2015 has had a freedom camping bylaw in place which restricts
freedom camping in its environs. In contrast, Selwyn is a rural district with a rapidly growing
urban centre. It has no freedom camping bylaw and manages two large freedom camping areas
in its district. Drawing on extensive document analysis and three weeks of qualitative field
research involving interviews, observation and site visits in the two districts in late 2018, this
thesis speaks to two specific research questions:
• How do people in the Christchurch and Selwyn regional districts feel about freedom
camping, the Freedom Camping Act 2011 and its management?
• How is freedom camping and the Freedom Camping Act 2011 reshaping social relations
within and between the Christchurch and Selwyn regional districts?
This thesis locates the FCA (2011) and freedom camping within current discourse on tourism
governance in neoliberal government structures and in answering the research questions,
explores three key areas. First, I examine the governance of freedom camping, the state of the
legislation and how different regional approaches to freedom camping create inconsistency and
community stress. Second, I consider freedom camping as a contradictory process of capitalism
and interpret economic power over nature through the framework of political ecology. The third
area is an analysis of tourist-hosts relations which sets a broader framework to examine
tensions over freedom camping’s visibility seen through the cultural lens of the “New Zealand
camper identity”. The thesis concludes that freedom camping through the FCA (2011) makes
multiple interpretations of freedom compete in, and for, contested public spaces. Four freedoms
are identified that emerge from the tensions. Freedom from cost relates to seeking free sites
and overusing public space. Freedom of mobility is the legislation encouraging freedom
campers to locate themselves in contested public places. Freedom as birthright is New
Zealander’s interpretation of freedom in nature as a birthright which is utilized by the national
tourism industry. The freedom of regulated responsibility involves the language of freedom being removed from freedom camping by the central government after eight years of significant
social and environmental stress due to freedom camping. These freedoms are both
interconnected and internally contradictory leaving the future meaning and practice of freedom
camping uncertain.
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Keywords
Camp sites, facilities, etc., Recreation areas, Public use, New Zealand, Canterbury, Public opinion, Tourism, Environmental aspects, Government policy, Liberty, Philosophy