Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / King Ash Bay Fishing Club president Ash Garner says he doesn’t know if he’ll be able to access key waterways next year casting doubt on future operations and investment

Transcript

King Ash Bay Fishing Club president Ash Garner says he doesn’t know if he’ll be able to access key waterways next year casting doubt on future operations and investment · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: And joining me in the studio right now is Ash Garner. Now.
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  Speaker 2: Ash is the current president of the king ash Bay
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  Speaker 2: Fishing Club, which has got eight hundred and fifty financial members.
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  Speaker 2: Also owns king ash Bay Lodge, Northern Territory coastal fishing
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  Speaker 2: charters and they lease commercial mud crab licenses ancillary business.
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  Speaker 1: Now joining me is Ash. Good morning to you.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning Katie.
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  Speaker 1: Now Ash, for those out.
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  Speaker 2: There listening this morning that aren't one hundred percent sure
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  Speaker 2: where king ash Bay Fishing Club where you guys are located,
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  Speaker 2: where is it exactly?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, we're about one thousand kilometers to the south east
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  Speaker 3: of Darwin in the Gulf of Carpentier, not far from
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  Speaker 3: the Queensland border really on the MacArthur River, so people
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  Speaker 3: will be familiar with MacArthur Vermine. So we're just downstream
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  Speaker 3: from MacArthur Vermine and just past Borol.
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  Speaker 1: So eight hundred and fifty financial members.
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  Speaker 2: That seems like a bloody big club, to put it bluntly.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, we are quite big, and that's you know, we're
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  Speaker 3: just over one hundred and fifty financial members at the
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  Speaker 3: moment and generally speaking, only one person out of a
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  Speaker 3: couple will become at an actual financial member of the club,
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  Speaker 3: so you can nearly double that number in terms of
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  Speaker 3: our actual membership as well as you know, we have
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  Speaker 3: several hundred thousand bed night visitors per year. You know,
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  Speaker 3: in the peak of the season we'd have upwards of
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  Speaker 3: about six hundred and fifty people on site goodness me.
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  Speaker 2: So it's certainly a very popular location now as talk
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  Speaker 2: us through where things are at. Firstly for the club,
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  Speaker 2: when you talk about the legislation that passed Parliament last.
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  Speaker 3: Week, well, our main concern, CAD is is that not
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  Speaker 3: specifically the legislation has just been passed, but the way
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  Speaker 3: in which it was passed. You know, we've heard from
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  Speaker 3: other people like the Seafood Council and AFANT and you know,
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  Speaker 3: as they've both alluded to, nobody's been spoken to about
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  Speaker 3: this by government and it's just sort of happened. And
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  Speaker 3: our concern is if there's another trench of amendments to
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  Speaker 3: the Act is what will they be and what consultation
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  Speaker 3: will happen before a pass through Parliament? And not only that,
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  Speaker 3: but why isn't it the Fisheries Minister dealing with these
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  Speaker 3: changes to the Fisheries Act rather than the Minister for
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  Speaker 3: absinal Affairs, And why do.
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  Speaker 2: You reckon it is so important that the Fisheries minister
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  Speaker 2: is looking at this.
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  Speaker 3: Well, you know, the Fisheries Minister for starters, he's in
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  Speaker 3: dawn and he should be working hand in hand with
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  Speaker 3: the Fisheries Department. Now, if people aren't working with the
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  Speaker 3: Fisheries Department to change the act, then what's the point
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  Speaker 3: in employing all these people and spending all these taxpayer
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  Speaker 3: dollars on a fisheries department if they're not the ones
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  Speaker 3: with a seat at the table to discuss the changes
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  Speaker 3: so they can talk to the people that they deal
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  Speaker 3: with on a daily basis, people like myself, so that
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  Speaker 3: everyone has an understanding what the rules are going to
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  Speaker 3: be in the future.
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  Speaker 1: And is that the biggest concern right now?
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  Speaker 2: Is it that uncertainty and the fact that you guys
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  Speaker 2: are feeling like nobody's at the table there to hear
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  Speaker 2: your concerns.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, I mean, you know, we're concerned because we just
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  Speaker 3: don't know the facts around what will happen in the future.
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  Speaker 3: In particular, so you touched briefly on the Blue Ma
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  Speaker 3: Bay decision, so we have portions of our river system
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  Speaker 3: down there the MacArthur River directly in front of Ashboy
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  Speaker 3: Fishing Club, which our understanding is going to be handed
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  Speaker 3: back to traditional owners in the new year. And our
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  Speaker 3: concern is that the government at the moment does not
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  Speaker 3: have any land instagrams in place with the Land Council,
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  Speaker 3: so we don't know come the first January next year
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  Speaker 3: will we have access to that river. And if we
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  Speaker 3: don't have access to that river, then we may as
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  Speaker 3: well shut up shop. And that's a lot of businesses.
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  Speaker 3: It's not just the fishing club and my businesses. There
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  Speaker 3: are several businesses. There are service station, houseboat companies, charter companies,
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  Speaker 3: accommodation businesses, all sorts of things that operate there. There's
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  Speaker 3: probably forty or fifty people during the peak of the
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  Speaker 3: season that are employed in there through various businesses, as
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  Speaker 3: well as all the businesses along the road like daily
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  Speaker 3: Waters Highway in businesses in borrel are that supply fuel
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  Speaker 3: and food and those sorts of things to travelers that
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  Speaker 3: will all be affected.
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  Speaker 2: Ash Talk me through the impact that it would have
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  Speaker 2: for you and those businesses. I mean, you've got the
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  Speaker 2: king ash Bay Launche. What impact is it going to
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  Speaker 2: have for you? Guys, If you don't have that certainty
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  Speaker 2: come the beginning of next.
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  Speaker 3: Year, well, the concern is it'll be like we were
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  Speaker 3: a couple of years ago when COVID first started, where
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  Speaker 3: no one could come to visit us at all, because
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  Speaker 3: there is not really much point in coming to visit
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  Speaker 3: us at King Ash Bay if you can't access the
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  Speaker 3: river because ninety nine point nine percent of people that
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  Speaker 3: visit there are there to go fishing and crabbing and
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  Speaker 3: sightseeing along the river and around this Repella group of islands.
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  Speaker 3: So if you can't access the boat ramp there and
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  Speaker 3: can't access the river, there's no point in coming to
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  Speaker 3: King Ash Bay. So we'll be back where we were
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  Speaker 3: two years ago with almost zero trade and ash.
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  Speaker 2: Are you guys like you're prepared to work with the
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  Speaker 2: traditional owners, You're prepared to work with the NLC on this,
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  Speaker 2: aren't you?
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely? And the problem is that, you know, my understanding
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  Speaker 3: is that the Labor Party have had several years to
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  Speaker 3: make agreements with the NLC and they just haven't done it.
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  Speaker 3: So you know, our question is is why hasn't it
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  Speaker 3: been done? Why we were waiting till the eleventh hour and
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  Speaker 3: putting all this concerns on everyone because you know, as
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  Speaker 3: I alluded to earlier, we're looking at spending a significant
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  Speaker 3: amount of money at the Fishing Club next year, you know,
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  Speaker 3: somewhere north three courts of a million dollars on infrastructure
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  Speaker 3: to expand our licensed premises and our facilities for tourists
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  Speaker 3: to enjoy, which you know has a massive impact on
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  Speaker 3: the local economy and the territory economy. And we don't
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  Speaker 3: know if we should do that now because we don't
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  Speaker 3: know if it's worthwhile.
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  Speaker 2: So Ash, what is your message this morning for the government?
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  Speaker 2: Is it that you like you guys want to be involved,
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  Speaker 2: You want to be able to voice these concerns and
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  Speaker 2: have genuine consultation.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, I mean we just want to want to be heard, Kadie,
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  Speaker 3: I mean, like anyone you know, And it's it's not
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  Speaker 3: just us, it's it's probably going to be mostly territory
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  Speaker 3: wide by the sounds of things in the future. We
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  Speaker 3: just might be the first cab off the rank. But
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  Speaker 3: if this is the way the Laby Government's going to
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  Speaker 3: work and not consult with anybody on the ground, then
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  Speaker 3: you know, I'm going to feel from the next election
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  Speaker 3: I'm afraid because I want to.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, I want to be really clear here.
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  Speaker 2: The issue isn't that you don't think that the NLC
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  Speaker 2: or you don't think that the traditional owners should actually
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  Speaker 2: be able to, you know, to have a say over
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  Speaker 2: what they do. The issue here is that you want
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  Speaker 2: to be able to have your concerns listen to absolutely.
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  Speaker 3: And you know, most of the traditional liners that I know,
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  Speaker 3: I've on and Bred territory and I've been here for
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  Speaker 3: thirty three years. You know most of the too's that
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  Speaker 3: I know, they want people to be able to access
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  Speaker 3: to the land, they want people to utilize the fishery.
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  Speaker 3: But it seems to be it's the NLC and the
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  Speaker 3: Labor government that can't come to an agreement. It's people
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  Speaker 3: on the ground that want to make things happen. And
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  Speaker 3: I know many people personally that are happy for people
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  Speaker 3: to continue business as usual provided that the NLC and
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  Speaker 3: Labor government come to some sort of agreement so that
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  Speaker 3: everyone's happy.
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  Speaker 2: Well, look where it sounds as though we certainly need
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  Speaker 2: to be able to speak to the fisheries Minister.
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  Speaker 1: I reckon on this one.
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  Speaker 2: I know that you know, some may say we need
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  Speaker 2: to speak to Minister Rubo to hear her thoughts, but
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  Speaker 2: I actually reckon it needs to be the Fisheries minister
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  Speaker 2: at this point because from what I'm hearing that's a
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  Speaker 2: big concern right now is it's a lot of worries
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  Speaker 2: from those that work in the industry and also those
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  Speaker 2: that you know that want to be able to enjoy
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  Speaker 2: the territory way of life and be able to get.
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  Speaker 1: Out there on the water.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, Ash, I really.
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  Speaker 2: Appreciate you coming into the studio this morning and having
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  Speaker 2: a chat with me, and please keep in contact and
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  Speaker 2: let us know whether you do hear from the government
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  Speaker 2: or whether there's any progression in this space.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, Thanks very much, Katie, Thank you.