Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Opposition spokesman for Parks and Ranges Bill Yan has raised concerns about plans to limit access to Shady Camp for recreational fishers

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Opposition spokesman for Parks and Ranges Bill Yan has raised concerns about plans to limit access to Shady Camp for recreational fishers · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We are hearing well. Certainly there is some concern that
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: the future of Shady Camp boat Ramp as a mecha
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: for recreational fishows well. The COLP is saying that it
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: remains uncertain after an Aboriginal Land Commissioner report recommended the
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: area for a land claim without proper regard for the
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  Speaker 1: extensive public use of the area. Joining me on the
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  Speaker 1: line to talk further about this is the Shadow Minister
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  Speaker 1: for Parks and Rangers, Bill Yan. Good morning to you, Bill.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, and good morning to your listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Bill. What exactly has happened here, because I'm sure that
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  Speaker 1: a lot of people are going to be hearing this
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  Speaker 1: and be quite surprised as I am.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, only just recently, Katie, when we were getting
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  Speaker 2: some briefings on some of the changes the Fisheries Act,
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  Speaker 2: so discussions about some of the ongoing land claims in
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  Speaker 2: the area of course on some of their waterways, and
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  Speaker 2: we went digging a little deeper and we found the
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  Speaker 2: report from the Aboriginal Land Commissioner which recommends the land
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  Speaker 2: be granted to a body, but also states in that
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  Speaker 2: report that this is from the report evidence of public
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  Speaker 2: use of Shady Camp barrage is limited, safer sporadic instances
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  Speaker 2: of recreational fishing. I think, along with every wreck fisher
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  Speaker 2: in the territory, finds out pretty hard to believe because
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  Speaker 2: I'll send lines of thirty to forty boats trying to
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  Speaker 2: get onto that ramp to get out on the water,
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  Speaker 2: and hundreds of boats out there on the river. It's
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  Speaker 2: one of our most popular and iconic fishing areas in
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  Speaker 2: the territory. So with the fact that the access to
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  Speaker 2: the area and now I suppose it is unclear, and
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  Speaker 2: the fact that the Labor government haven't come out in
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  Speaker 2: support of wreck fishers on this matter is certainly a
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  Speaker 2: bit of a worry for me and certainly a worry
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  Speaker 2: for wreck fisher Well.
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  Speaker 1: And look, a lot of people are probably hearing this
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  Speaker 1: for the first time and thinking, hang on a second,
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  Speaker 1: so what exactly are you talking about? So where so
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  Speaker 1: where has this comment been made and where exactly you know, like,
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  Speaker 1: is the evidence that this is going to happen.
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  Speaker 2: Well, there's a lot of land claims that they back
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  Speaker 2: right to nineteen ninety seven that have still been worked on,
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  Speaker 2: and this has been one of them. So there's a
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  Speaker 2: lot of processes to go through about how a land
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  Speaker 2: claim is approven. I won't go dow because I don't
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  Speaker 2: think you had the time, Katie. But some of it
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  Speaker 2: comes down to the measurement of detriment to the community.
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  Speaker 2: Now af hand done a survey and sentenced through to
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  Speaker 2: the Lands Commissioner who's in Canberra. It was somewhere south
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  Speaker 2: of here, and the Lands Commissioner didn't take that survey
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  Speaker 2: into account and pretty well said because it was from
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  Speaker 2: a group of already dedicated to fishers, that they weren't
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  Speaker 2: going to take that into consideration because it wouldn't have
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  Speaker 2: been fair on the traditional Carstadians or the people responsible
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  Speaker 2: for that land. And again I find that really really
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  Speaker 2: difficult to comprehend because our recfisher is a part of
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  Speaker 2: our community. And it's not just about our community either, Katie.
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  Speaker 2: This is an iconic piece of river and an iconic
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  Speaker 2: piece of the territory that every reckfish our in Australia.
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  Speaker 2: I think knows about Shady Camp and I think everyone
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  Speaker 2: wants to get down there and catch a huge barrel
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  Speaker 2: mundy and this may change how access is gain to
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  Speaker 2: that area well.
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  Speaker 1: And this report was making recommendations obviously to the Federal Minister,
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  Speaker 1: is my understanding of it. What's the process now built
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  Speaker 1: from your understanding? And how can territorians make sure that
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  Speaker 1: their voices are heard?
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  Speaker 2: Well? I think the assessments have been done. It's obviously
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  Speaker 2: the government haven't come out in support of rec fishes.
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  Speaker 2: Where's the government come out and said, look, we don't
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  Speaker 2: really agree with this because in the documentation we've seen
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  Speaker 2: the Labor government supports the grant of this land to
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  Speaker 2: traditional Castadians. So government haven't come out and supported red fishers.
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  Speaker 2: And of course, if you look at not just Recfichoes
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  Speaker 2: and territory, but recfichoes across the country, they should have
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  Speaker 2: been out there fighting tooth and nail or at least
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  Speaker 2: supporting the recfichers and working with the traditional Castadians about
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  Speaker 2: what access is going to look like to that area
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  Speaker 2: and to make sure that access is there for all
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  Speaker 2: Territorians now and into the future.
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  Speaker 1: And Bill, I like, if it's not, and if we
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  Speaker 1: wind up in a situation here where you know, where
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  Speaker 1: territorians can't actually go there for recreational fishing or even
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  Speaker 1: tour guides being able to take out different groups, what
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  Speaker 1: impact is that going to have?
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  Speaker 2: It's going to have a huge impact. K you look
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  Speaker 2: at the red fishing industry, it brings in tens of
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  Speaker 2: millions of dollars into the territory, whether that's from tourists
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  Speaker 2: or our local guys boats and fishing gear. I don't
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  Speaker 2: know how to say how much money else been on
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  Speaker 2: my stuff, because I get in trouble with my family anyway,
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  Speaker 2: but that number is huge, And particularly if you look
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  Speaker 2: at businesses the use Shady Camp, those fishing tour operators,
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  Speaker 2: this is going to affect their livelihoods. So if there's
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  Speaker 2: not some clarity and consistency in access to that area,
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  Speaker 2: it's going to have a huge impact on the economy
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  Speaker 2: into the territory and a huge impact on those businesses
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  Speaker 2: that are running fishing charter operations out of that area.
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  Speaker 2: Where else can they go?
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  Speaker 1: Well someone's just messaged through. Mary's just messaged through and
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  Speaker 1: she said, good morning, Katie, regarding Shady Camp. If there
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  Speaker 1: was no usage, why did the Northern Territory government spend
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  Speaker 1: millions to upgrade the ramp and the car port in
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  Speaker 1: recent years?
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  Speaker 2: Well, that's exactly right, Katie. So the Orlitarity governments invested
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  Speaker 2: millions of dollars down there, on the infrastructure for Shady
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  Speaker 2: Camp and then for the federal minister, sorry for the
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  Speaker 2: Aboriginal Lands Commission to come out. So evidence of use
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  Speaker 2: is sporadic instances for recreational fishing, just it doesn't gel
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  Speaker 2: with what we actually see on the ground. So there's
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  Speaker 2: a huge disparity between what the Lands Commissioner has put
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  Speaker 2: in a report and what is actually happening on the ground.
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  Speaker 2: And that's a huge concern to me.
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  Speaker 1: Bill. Is the CLP just scam hungering on this one?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, is it a situation here where you know
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  Speaker 1: Shady Camp's not going to be closed off and you
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  Speaker 1: know that the government is going to work with the
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  Speaker 1: federal government here and the CLP is trying to get
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  Speaker 1: some political mileage.
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  Speaker 2: Now, what I'm trying to do, okay, and what the
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  Speaker 2: CLP is trying to do is make sure that we
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  Speaker 2: have access to our rivers and ramps for all territories
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  Speaker 2: and for all visitors in the future, and that there's
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  Speaker 2: some clarity and certainty around what that's going to look like.
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  Speaker 2: Because at this point in time, this report came out
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  Speaker 2: just before the federal election that we had, of course
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  Speaker 2: our budget and estimates, and it sort of went under
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  Speaker 2: the radar and nobody seemed to know about it that
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  Speaker 2: the government did because there was some of the representatives
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  Speaker 2: from the wreck Fischio groups in the territory wrote to government,
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  Speaker 2: and government haven't responded to them, and that certainly is
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  Speaker 2: a concern. It smacks of trying to keep things hidden
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  Speaker 2: the way they certainly like to do on occasions and
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  Speaker 2: ram things through. And we want to make sure that
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  Speaker 2: there's clarity and certainty and access for all territories to
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  Speaker 2: those areas that we all like to use and it's
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  Speaker 2: certainly part of our territory life sole and we certainly
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  Speaker 2: want to protect that.
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  Speaker 1: We are going to be catching up with that just
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  Speaker 1: after ten o'clock this morning, so no doubt we will
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  Speaker 1: ask more. I know they've got their AGM tonight as well.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you as always for having a chat with us
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  Speaker 1: this morning. Before I let you go, though, what was
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: your reaction to those scenes out of Catherine from overnight.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, it's absolutely disgraceful, okay, And it's so scary. We've
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  Speaker 2: had instances like that down here in Central Australia, but
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  Speaker 2: to actually see youth in stolen cars ramming police cars,
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  Speaker 2: that takes things to the next level. The government has
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  Speaker 2: to act immediately because this stuff can't be allowed to continue,
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  Speaker 2: because someone's going to die sand or get seriously injured.
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  Speaker 2: Something needs to be done straight away to stop this
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  Speaker 2: sort of behavior because we're spiraling down the rabbit hole
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  Speaker 2: and I don't know where we're going to end up
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  Speaker 2: in the future. Caddy, it's so scary, it's not funny.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Billian, we always appreciate your time. Thank you, thank
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  Speaker 1: you very much for coming on the show this morning.
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  Speaker 1: No doubt we'll talk to you again soon.
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  Speaker 2: Stardy, thank you.