Public wharves close to commercial use

THE commercial use of public wharves in the MidCoast LGA has been discontinued as of 1 July, including the Yallinbah wharf on Marine Drive, Tea Gardens.

The decision looks set to impact catamaran operator YKnot Cruises, which currently utilises the wharf for its Nelson Bay-Tea Gardens service.

MidCoast Council resolved to discontinue the commercial use of public wharves in 2019.

YKnot operator Ian Cutbush spoke in Council against the decision at that time.

Council’s Director of Liveable Communities Paul De Szell said the decision was made so that public wharves remained solely for public and recreational usage, and not for private enterprises.

He said that Council staff had kept regular contact with impacted businesses since the original decision was made, and had suggested alternatives such as constructing a private wharf for their usage.

Mr Cutbush has been operating YNot Cruises since 2017, and said he generally utilises the Yallinbah wharf three times a day, seven days a week.

On the other side of the bay, the service operates from the private D’Albora Marina in Nelson Bay, paying a recurring usage fee.

On the King’s Birthday long weekend in June, Mr Cutbush said the YKnot catamaran carried 136 passengers in a single day across the port.

Mr Cutbush said a former employee had been liaising with Council on the matter in recent years, but that he never personally knew the full details or the implications of the rule change.

If the decision is enforced, Mr Cutbush says his business is “history”.

“They have told me I have to go and buy my own wharf, but there is nothing available,” he said.

“No one is selling the existing wharves that are there.”

Mr Cutbush employs a total of six staff.

“That is six families that will be affected,” he said.

Tea Gardens’ other ferry service, The Original Tea Gardens Ferry, also utilised the Yallinbah wharf in the past, before securing private facilities in the wake of Council’s decision.

Operator Kerrie Jeffreys said that Council had communicated details of the impending change as far back as 2019.

“Time was given to secure alternative arrangements,” she said.

“The previous owner secured the Crown land leases and when I purchased the ferry service I built my own wharf.”

Mr De Szell said all operators were given plenty of time to make other arrangements.

“This decision hasn’t just come out of the blue,” he said.

“The decision was made and businesses were informed almost six years ago that this would eventually come about.

“And eight months ago, businesses were again told the steps to put the restriction in place were imminent.

“Council has done everything in its power to provide businesses with more than sufficient time to come up with an alternative option.”

In a statement, MidCoast Council told NOTA, “If special considerations are given to one business, it would then be required to do the same for every business.

“It should be noted that other operators have made alternative arrangements during the long lead time for implementing the decision.”

Council has indicated that the restrictions will be enforced by its compliance team.