Survival skill instructors alarmed by 'charlatan' operators in underregulated, booming industry
By Daniel MilesGordon Dedman's day job involves taking a small army of people into the bush to learn how to survive the end of days.
Or at the very least, something like it.
Mr Dedman is a bush survival school coach.
In his time with the Army reserve's 1st Commando Regiment he learned how to survive in some of the world's harshest conditions.
His survival school teaches people how to reconnect with the land, light a fire safely, and ensure any bush trip "leaves no trace".
It is a booming market, with hundreds of people on his waitlists.
"Particularly post-COVID, interest has grown exponentially," Mr Dedman said.
He travels to all corners of Australia to teach his courses. Most recently he worked as the bushcraft expert on reality TV show Alone.
The boom in interest has coincided with what he said is a generation that is overly dependant on technology.
"I'm talking about literally teaching 'tying your own shoes' type skills," Mr Dedman said.
"It seems to be getting worse and worse."
The real danger
The threats of the bush are nothing new to Mr Dedman, but he insists there is nothing dangerous about what he teaches.
He said the greatest risk stems from "charlatan" operators in the field that have jumped at the chance to make a buck in a booming industry.
"There is no regulating body for bushcraft and survival," Mr Dedman said.
"Obviously it's an integrity concern.
"I've seen some people that … are popping up now that have done maybe one course overseas, and a bit of hiking, and now they're calling themselves instructors teaching military-style survivor skills — and they've never been in the military."
The lack of regulation is something that also concerns Adam O'Donnell.
Mr O'Donnell's spent time in the British Army's elite SAS Reserve and as a commando in the Australian Army, and now works as Scouts Victoria's state leader in survival skills.
"I've known of individuals in the past that have been teaching what is quite dangerous stuff," he said.
He said the lack of regulation and oversight was an issue, but that he was not sure how the industry would embrace regulation.
"As soon as you regulate it you run the risk of killing it completely," Mr O'Donnell said.
"I think there needs to be some sort of code of practice, or a better code of practice."
"But it definitely concerns me because there's just no regulation on it."
No laughing matter
Mr Dedman and Mr O'Donnell take their work incredibly seriously. They know the stakes are high if something goes wrong.
In the reality series Alone, for example, Mr Dedman tells competitors of a simple rule — no mushrooms.
"You only need to get it wrong once," he said.
Mr Dedman said "charlatan" operators without appropriate experience not only risk client safety but muddy the waters for legitimate operations.
Businesses that run in the outdoors, like survival craft schools, are required to carry public liability insurance.
Mr Dedman said rogue businesses were making it increasingly difficult, and expensive, to get the appropriate industry cover.
The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) said many survival schools were looking overseas for coverage.
"In most cases this type of insurance is provided through international insurers, which in recent years have been under pressure from what's called a 'hard' insurance market," an ICA spokesperson said.
"This means capital is scarce, reinsurance is more difficult to obtain, and risk appetites are low."
The ICA said it was addressing these challenges.
"There is no silver bullet to fix these issues, and often solutions — where they exist — require a concerted effort between insurers, business, and government," the spokesperson said.