Casey: sleeping in your car
Council rules: prohibited without a permit
City of Casey has been read. Under the Casey Community Local Law 2025:
Casey prohibits camping in a vehicle on a road, and camping in or occupying a vehicle on Council land or in a public place, unless you hold a permit.
A person must not, except with a permit, camp in, erect, place or occupy a vehicle or temporary structure or accommodation in or on any Council land or public place or camp in a vehicle on a road.
The clearest of the Victorian instruments read so far, and the only one that names the vehicle-on-a-road case outright rather than leaving it to the definition of camping. Casey is also the largest council in Australia with no published place on this site: the nearest one is over the border in New South Wales.
Signs override this page. Whatever is signed at the site is the rule that applies, no matter what is written here.
What applies here regardless
The local law above is this council’s own. What is settled state-wide, and applies outside a council area, is where camping is allowed in Victoria.
In a Victorian state forest a person must not camp unless the camp is more than 20 metres from any bog, dam, spring or bore, and must not camp in the same area — anywhere within 200 metres of where they first camped — for more than 28 consecutive nights. Each carries a maximum penalty of 10 penalty units.
The state forest regulations do not apply to state forest that is regulated watercourse land, unless that land is a forest reserve, a forest park or the Yarra Tributaries Forest Reserve.
In Victoria a penalty set out at the foot of a provision of an Act or a subordinate instrument is a maximum: the offence is punishable by a penalty not exceeding the one set out.
The Victorian Government's own guidance uses different words: you can camp anywhere in a state forest if you set up at least 20 metres from waterways and stay no longer than 28 consecutive nights. That is guidance, not the regulation; where the two differ, the regulation is the law.
State forests are not national parks or state parks. Those are managed by Parks Victoria under different rules, and forest reserves are different again — in a forest reserve you may camp only in the official campgrounds the land manager provides, not in informal spots.
Nearest places with a published rule
The state road network has no mapped rest area inside Casey. The closest 8 places this site holds start 230 km away, in a straight line rather than by road.
Halls Stopping Bay Northbound, Moama — 230 km N in a straight line
Halls Truck Parking Bay Southbound, Moama — 230 km N in a straight line
The Keyhole Rest Area, Moama — 235 km N in a straight line
Nine Mile Parking Bay Northbound, Moama — 240 km N in a straight line
Eleven Mile Rest Area, Moama — 241 km N in a straight line
Long Paddock Visitors Site, Mathoura — 244 km N in a straight line
Corowa Service Centre — 255 km N in a straight line
Mathoura Rest Area — 258 km N in a straight line
Where this comes from
- “A person must not, except with a permit, camp in, erect, place or occupy a vehicle or temporary structure or accommodation in or on any Council land or public place or camp in a vehicle on a road.” — Casey Community Local Law 2025, City of Casey. Retrieved 1 Sep 2026.
- “A person must not camp in a State forest unless the camp is located more than 20 metres from any bog, dam, spring or bore.” “Subject to subregulation (4), a person must not camp in the same area of a State forest for more than 28 consecutive nights.” “For the purposes of subregulation (2), same area means any location within 200 metres of the area at which the person first camps in a State forest.” “Penalty: 10 penalty units.” — Forests (Recreation) (Temporary) Regulations 2021, S.R. No. 44/2021, authorised version No. 004 incorporating amendments as at 23 June 2026, Victorian Government — Chief Parliamentary Counsel. Retrieved 12 Oct 2026.
- “These Regulations do not apply to any area of State forest that is regulated watercourse land (within the meaning of the Land Act 1958) unless that land is any of the following—” “a forest reserve;” “a forest park;” “the Yarra Tributaries Forest Reserve.” — Forests (Recreation) (Temporary) Regulations 2021 (S.R. No. 44/2021), authorised version, Victorian Government — Chief Parliamentary Counsel. Retrieved 12 Oct 2026.
- “A penalty set out at the foot of a provision of an Act, subordinate instrument or local law must, unless the context otherwise requires, be construed as indicating that a contravention (whether by act or omission) of the provision is an offence against the Act, subordinate instrument or local law punishable on a finding of guilt (with or without recording a conviction as required by section 7) by a penalty not exceeding that set out.” — Sentencing Act 1991, authorised version No. 234 incorporating amendments as at 30 September 2026, Victorian Government — Chief Parliamentary Counsel. Retrieved 12 Oct 2026.
- “You can camp anywhere in a state forest if you set up at least 20 metres from waterways and stay no longer than 28 consecutive nights.” — Camping — Visiting State forests, Victorian Government, Conservation Regulator. Retrieved 30 Aug 2026.
- “State forests are different to national parks and state parks, which are managed by Parks Victoria and have different rules.” “In forest reserves (general): You can camp in the official campgrounds provided by the land manager but not in informal locations where there are no facilities.” — Visiting State forests, Victorian Government, Conservation Regulator. Retrieved 30 Aug 2026.