Worimi Conservation Lands (WCL) has responded to the bevy of social media criticism following the decision to increase the cost of Stockton Beach vehicle permit (BVP) fees from $30 a year to $88.
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Four weeks ago the WCL Board announced its first permit fee increase since 2007, which started on January 1, drawing a range of opinions from the wider community.
Andrew Smith is a spokesperson for the 13 person WCL Board.
He is also the CEO of the Worimi Local Aboriginal Land Council (WLALC), which is an autonomous entity and in no way involved or responsible for setting the beach fees.
He said the funds would be reinvested back into the lands and used to help manage increasing costs, including staffing and visitor management and that the WCL’s Board responsibility was primarily to protect Worimi cultural sites and natural values.
“What people must understand is that we are bound by State Government legislation when it comes to ensuring the safety of beach users and protecting cultural and environmentally sensitive sites,” Mr Smith said.
“Another misconception is that the money generated by the beach vehicle permits goes straight into our coffers and has been paying for our developments. This is not true. The BVP monies go into a trust account and is managed by the WCL Board under the National Parks and Wildlife Act.
“The WLALC does receive a small share of the ‘commercial operations’ eco-pass system income, but only due to the fact that commercial operators are conducting their business on WLALC’s private freehold lands at the Anna Bay end of the beach.
“This is only a ‘per head fee’ paid to OEH [Office of Environmental Heritage] by the operators and we receive a 30 per cent share of the revenue from this system in partnership with OEH and Port Stephens Council.
“The WCL Board has invested over $2.5 million into road access upgrades and maintenance of the Lavis Lane and Gan Gan 4WD entrances.”
Mr Smith said that he could not argue against the way people feel about the increases, but he was both frustrated and scathing on those individuals using ignorant scare-mongering tactics and making false accusations about issues they have no knowledge of.
In response to restricted 4WD access, Mr Smith said they were there for the protection of cultural and natural sensitive areas, including the damaged frontal dune system.
“Not all of the high dune areas are accessible under the permit system as they are privately owned freehold lands under title or they are leased [Crown Lands] to other parties and do not form part of the WCL,” he said.
“Users of Stockton Bight see a blanket sand dune landscape and believe it to all be under one tenure but this is far from the truth.
“As for camping, this was never officially a permissible activity on the dunes, however in response to public interest the WCL Board is introducing a sustainable camping strategy from February 2019.”
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The Ganyamalbaa Camping Trial will initially include 15 campsites, later to be 26, accommodating up to eight campers per site.
“Disappointingly, many of the Facebook posts have also falsely accused the WLALC of increasing the fees and collecting revenue to pay for their developments. The WLALC has nothing to do with the fees, nor does it receive any income from the system,” Mr Smith said.
When asked about the sand extraction operations Mr Smith said the LALC, like many other existing private operators, managed a license to extract sand from along the back fringe of the dune system where it’s moving inland at around 4-5m per year.
“The area in question is private freehold land under title and does not form part of the WCL. The sand extraction license was finalised in 2006 by then Administrator Smith Hancock and was inherited by the WLALC due to a shortage of sand resource supply being communicated by the NSW Government,” he said.
“There are numerous sand extraction companies along the Stockton Bight and new ones being proposed which have nothing to do with the WLALC. Are people concerned about these?”
Mr Smith said that the WLALC also operated a number of small business operations and was sustainable within its own right.
“We’ve worked extremely hard since stepping out from under administration and as an Aboriginal community owned and operated organisation, we have not received one red cent from any third party to assist with our business or property developments,” he said.
Mr Smith highlighted the WLALC’s commitment to a $8.5 million redevelopment of the Murrook centre at Williamtown, currently in the third of five development stages.
“We have completed the administration building, the wedding/conference precinct and amphitheatre and are in the process of constructing the cultural collection [“living museum”] stage with café, retail and other facilities.
“We also run cultural diversity training, respite and camps for programs such as SNAP [Special Needs Accommodation Programs]. Ignorance and fighting has to stop.
“The WLALC is successfully contributing to society and the local economy in many ways and instead of trying to pull us down, we’d love especially for our local community to partner with us and be empowered and celebrate Worimi culture and heritage.”
And to set the record straight once and for all, Mr Smith said land on the failed Anna Bay resort was never owned by the WLALC and the development was a council issue, nor did the WLALC give its endorsement for the Worimi World Heritage Estuary proposal.
