Yaegl Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation’s Bill Walker responds to surf carnival ‘cash grab’ uproar

An Indigenous group facing criticism of a $2000 beach access “fee” to a small surf club says it should have been levied on council or the state government instead.

Yamba Surf Lifesaving Club’s events included a nipper carnival and ocean swim fundraisers.

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An Aboriginal corporation which hit a battling small town surf club with a $2000 bill to use a public beach for carnivals has hit back at criticism by popular columnist Rory Gibson, calling his comments “divisive”.

The Sunday Mail revealed at the weekend that the Yaegl Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation asked Yamba Surf Club on the NSW Far North Coast to pay $500 for each of four events it planned to stage on the town’s Main Beach over the surf season.

The events included a nipper’s carnival and an annual ocean swim fundraiser.

It followed a letter from the surf club seeking formal endorsement for the events from the Yaegl, who hold native title over the coastline from Woody Head in the north to Wooli in the south.

In 2017, they became the first Indigenous people in NSW to be granted native title over the ocean. The claim was not meant to impact public access or commercial fishing.

The YTOAC told the surf club it endorsed the events but would charge a $500 “fee for service” to stage welcome to country ceremonies at each of them.

Surf club members said charging volunteer lifesavers to use their own beach was “un-Australian” while Gibson, writing in the Sunday Mail, slammed it as a “cash grab” and “a lesson on how to obliterate community goodwill”.

“I don’t know what the Yaegl Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation does, but this cash-grab bid has done more to generate ill feeling than $2000 will ever compensate for,” Gibson, an active Yamba lifesaver, wrote.

Yamba Surf Life Saving Club was forced to pay $2000 for beach access.

In a statement responding to Gibson’s column, corporation CEO Bill Walker said his opinions were “unnecessarily divisive and removed from the spirit of the relationship between Yaegl People and the wider community”.

“Yaegl TOAC understands that the sentiments shared in the opinion piece do not reflect the views of the Yamba SLSC, but of a single individual”.

Mr Walker told the Sunday Mail that there had been a “misunderstanding” and the $2000 fee should have been levied on the local council or state government, not the surf club.

Speaking following the outcry, he said the Yaegl had fought for 19 years in the Federal Court to have its native title rights recognised.

“Yaegl People’s native title rights and interests are non-exclusive in nature—

meaning that the rights and interests do not interfere with public rights of access and enjoyment of areas on Yaegl Country,” he said.

“Furthermore, Yaegl People are not the authority responsible for issuing licences for community events within the Clarence Valley (council area).

Yamba Surf Lifesaving Club’s events included a nipper carnival and ocean swim fundraisers.

“Yaegl TOAC values its longstanding positive relationship with Yamba Surf Life Saving Club (Yamba SLSC), and the local community more generally. It is strongly supportive of sporting and community events, which it considers to be crucial to community spirit and wellbeing.”

Mr Walker said the Yaegl TOAC was “sympathetic to the challenges” faced by other not-for-profit organisations.

“In recognition of that, Yaegl TOAC has indicated to Yamba SLSC its willingness to engage to accommodate these challenges through the waiver of fees for Welcome to Country services,” he said.

“This is despite the fact that it is usual practice for services—including cultural services—engaged at a public event by any service provider to attract a fee in acknowledgment of the service providers’ time and expenses.

“Yaegl TOAC looks forward to continuing its productive discussions with the Yamba SLSC in relation to its upcoming events.”

Originally published as Yaegl Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation’s Bill Walker responds to surf carnival ‘cash grab’ uproar