As with most parks the reasons for closures is not as simple as the authorities just wanted to stop access. There are always reasons.

My understanding is that in this and many other cases the primary reason is that the authorities do not have the ability to manage these areas. When they say manage what they really mean is that they do not have the money to keep them open.

The state and federal governments are not going to provide money for the management of these areas if no one is using them. When there are no means in place to definatively know how many people are using the area how can they know how much money to put in. If it can be shown that people are using them and want to continue to use them then the government can get an idea of what kind of numbers are involved. If we sit and do nothing then they will never know. That is the point of why they call for submissions and public consultation. Say and do nothing and there is no reason as the government sees it for spending the money to keep the areas open and certainly no reason to put any additional money in. That money is used to pay rangers, maintain the areas, put up signs etc. and while some of us might not see this work being done they are there doing it.

Understand the processes involved and you will understand that what they are calling for here by asking for submissions and consultation is for people to stand up and be counted. Then they can get an idea about numbers and the amount of money to put in. It might not make any difference but it is not going to hurt and it takes hardly any time to send an email.