Kangaroo Island tourism heavyweights say Kingscote wood export plan will deter tourists and investment

Kangaroo Island tourism industry leaders say a proposal to send up to 367 trucks a day through Kingscote in a wood export plan will put visitors and investors off the region.

Kangaroo Island tourism heavyweights warn plans to truck wood through Kingscote will stymie major investment and deter visitors from travelling to the region.

Under the T-Ports plan, a timber stockpile and woodchips processing plant would be set up at Wisanger, 6km west of Kingscote, and trucks would travel between there and Kingscote wharf up to 367 times a day, six days a month.

Kangaroo Island Council will consult locals about a T-Ports proposal to lease part of the council’s waste transfer station land, on North Coast Rd, for two to six years.

About 250,000 tonnes of material – mostly woodchips but potentially a small amount of logs – would be exported from Kingscote each year.

The project would provide a solution to the decades-long conundrum of how to remove large volumes of plantation wood from the island, and follows former Planning Minister Vickie Chapman’s decision to refuse plans for a seaport at Smith Bay.

Ian Drummond, part-owner of Kingscote’s Aurora Ozone Hotel is concerned about the timber export plan for Kingscote.

But with trucks to move through Kingscote every few minutes, it has already met fierce opposition.

Ian Drummond, part-owner of Kingscote’s Aurora Ozone Hotel, is “dead against” the plan, which he said would be an “absolute bloody disaster for tourism”.

“If those trucks cause discomfort to guests … it will have a huge negative impact on the island,” he said.

Bickford’s Group managing director owner Angelo Kotses said his proposal for a distillery and microbrewery alongside the wharf were on hold.

Mr Kotses said it was “in limbo” while he awaited detail on how the timber export plan would affect his business.

Bickford's Managing Director Angelo Kotses, pictured with Prime Minister Scott Morrison, is says his distillery project for Kingscote is on hold until he learns more about the export plan. Picture: AAP /David Mariuz

“I don’t know how it’s going to stimulate any tourism if you’ve got trucks going past every day,” he said.

Caj Amadio, who owns several accommodation and hospitality businesses in Kingscote, said projects such as the distillery were vital for growth.

“Kingscote it pretty dead at the moment and the timber business won’t fix that,” he said.

“Angelo Kotses’s plan and others planned for Kingscote would really bring it alive.

An artist's impression of the original concept design for Bickford's' visitor centre, microbrewery and distillery development at Kingscote. Picture: Supplied

“I just don’t understand why they’re looking at having this commercial activity through the middle of a tourism destination.”

Among Mr Amadio’s tourism businesses is Salty Air Apartments, which sits alongside the proposed trucking route. He is also planning a 4 1/2 star, five-storey hotel on nearby Dauncey St.

T-Ports’ proposal involves loading timber onto trans-shipment vessel MV Lucky Eyre, which would then transport timber to an ocean-going ship about 17km offshore once a month.

MV Lucky Eyre being loaded with barley for export at Lucky Bay on the Eyre Peninsula. Picture: Mark Thomas, Missing Link Media

Council chief executive Greg Georgopoulos said some elected members had raised worries about the proposal.

“(But) councillors are hoping that there’s a finite option at the site – they’d only get two to six years to do what they need to do and then pack up,” he said.

T-Ports chief executive Kieran Carvill said his company was aware the plan was the subject of community sensitivity, and it was committed to undertaking public engagement.

In a letter to the council, MasterPlan’s Michael Richardson said the proposal would reduce potential conflict with tourist traffic on SeaLink’s Penneshaw to Cape Jervis ferry, and boost the island’s economy.

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