The Beagle Editor,
I was one of the many thousands who attended the hunting and outdoor expo in Narooma called HUNTFEST from Sydney each year.
It was always a great weekend but sadly it is no longer being held.
I know the organizers of the expo had a hard time with SAFE Narooma and The Animal Justice Party as I followed the fight in the newspapers and social media. With all the devastation from the recent bushfires and the loss of income for many local businesses, I was just wondering if the event that SAFE Narooma and The Animal Justice Party proposed is going to take place.
The area could certainly benefit from an event to bring in much needed dollars!
Or was all the protesting and carry on by these two groups and their members in the media and at your local council all BS?
Here is a quote from the Animal Justice Party webpage:
“The proposal for a Coast and Nature – A Narooma Festival has all the possibilities of having a net benefit to the Eurobodalla region of up to 47 jobs and $4m in output value by being integrated across a range of current structural and cultural characteristics of the region. Professor Steve Garlick PhD March 2016”
The AJP and SAFE said they would run an event as soon as HUNTFEST was stopped.
Now is the time!
I have called two of your local Eurobodalla councillors and the local council about the AJP and SAFE event and no one has heard anything from either group! It would appear no event licence has been applied for!
I was hoping you may be able to shed some light on the big event for me.
If the AJP and SAFE event does not take place then these two groups (and all their members) have no credibility at all. Do you have any contact details for the HuntFest team as I would like to discuss with them the possibility of getting the event up and running again?
Lastly, I have attached a transcript of the AJP “The Estimated Economic Impact of the proposed ‘Coast and Nature – A Narooma Festival’ on the Eurobodalla Shire, NSW – Summary” it’s not hard to find on Google, so you can check my facts.
Name and address supplied
Photo: HuntFest organiser Roy Jenkins at the 2017 annual Narooma "Huntfest"
Eurobodalla Shire Council favours guns and shooting over a culturally creative nature-based people’s festival
The Animal Justice Party said today it was astonished that Eurobodalla Shire Council had opted for a festival based on guns over the AJP’s innovative proposal promoting the region’s growing sustainable and creative businesses.Professor Steve Garlick, President of the AJP, said that the organisation’s proposal would have brought a significant economic boost to the Shire. “The AJP works with any communities wanting to achieve better outcomes for animals and nature. The Narooma proposal would have created up to 47 jobs and had a net regional benefit of around $4m as it ties in with a range of existing structural elements and cultural and business activities” he said. Professor Garlick said that the jobs and financial benefit could be sustained if the proposal was linked to enterprise training initiatives currently being discussed with the regional TAFE. Details of the economic impact of the proposed festival are attached. “Our proposal aimed to showcase the many initiatives and businesses within the region that promote community well-being,” he said. “Called Coast and Nature– A Narooma Festival, it would have been of immense benefit to all the sustainable recreational, cultural, health and food production businesses and the creative initiatives developing in this region.“ In a two day festival it would have presented Narooma and surrounds as the go-to place for these activities and made a positive contribution to the local economy. “The AJP proposed a collaborative, safe, economically smart and environmental and animal friendly event, building local capacity based on sound academic and practical evidence. This is in contrast to what we believe could be a potentially divisive proposal, based on old economic thinking and of limited benefit to the local community. “If places such as Narooma and the surrounding region are to take advantage of the new creative and sustainable initiatives developing in the area, decision makers need to respond with vision and courage, rather than just continuing more of the same. “Additionally a range of local organisations should have the chance to use public facilities in the region at key times of the year.” The unusual early timing for Expressions of Interest and then a tender call by the ESC to use the Narooma Sports and Recreation Centre for a festival beginning in 2018 for five years had offered a unique opportunity for the AJP to plan and work collaboratively with the local community to develop an exciting proposal that would have achieved something special for the region.Professor Garlick said that it was hard to fathom why Council had opted for a narrowly based event promoting gun use and hunting whose time had arguably passed. The contrast between the two proposals was stark. Councillors supporting the decision needed to justify their decision to the community in a transparent way and show how the economic benefits from the Hunters and Shooters proposal were better than the AJP concept he said.
