Thursday, 6 June 2024
Stories and events of the Kaurareg homeland of Kaiwalagal, the Torres Strait homeland and Cape York homelands of the Anggamuthi, Atambaya, Wuthathi, Yadhaykenu and Gudang Peoples.
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Badu talks up tourism potential BY CARLI WILLIS
Queensland Minister for Tourism and Sport Michael Healy’s visit to Badu Island last week gave the community a rare chance to have an audience with the government. Traditional Owners invited Minister Healy to talk to them at a community meeting held at the town hall on Wakaid and he was also invited onto their tribal lands. Traditional Owner Gerald Bowie instigated the minister’s visit a year ago when he met Mr Healy – then assistant Minister for Tourism – and told him about Badu’s potential. “Michael Healy will now understand what Badu is about, especially the environment and the waters so he’s got knowledge of how we live on Badu,” Mr Bowie said. He said he believed his community had everything it needed to offer an incredible cultural tourism experience. “For example, we’ve got a dancing group, we’ve got a weaving group, we’ve got a cleaning business, we’ve got an administration group,” he said. “Every fee for service they’ll have an opportunity to get a wage.” Mr Bowie hoped that would also mean wealth creation which would help their communities to better care for Country.
“Now people get paid to look after water and look after the land,” he said. Minister Healy said it was his first time to Badu Island and he was blown away by its natural beauty. “It’s an exquisite part of the islands, it is absolutely unique and it comes as no surprise why people around the world would want to come and spend some quality quiet time here,” he said. He said the tourism industry was very small in the Torres Strait and there was only a couple of examples where it was doing well. “But the work ethic, the commitment, and the understanding of the value that it can bring to community, I think is just as impressive as what Mother Nature is provided here for us,” he said. He said there was huge potential. “I’m of the belief and many others, that once the communities up here, start to increase their ability to be able to get more tourists into their region – to beautiful sites like this – it will be able to create wealth, not just [for] those individuals, but for their families and broader communities,” he said. The local community also told Mr Healy that some types of tourism would not be welcome, but there was interest in small, high-impact, low-volume tourism.
He said the community had told him ageing infrastructure was a concern and a potential liability to growing tourism in the region. “To get tourism growing, and to build an industry, which is economically viable that can contribute to the coffers of local government, having that infrastructure in place is vitally important,” he said. “I will be advocating to the appropriate ministers to ensure we put the appropriate infrastructure in place, while we continue to discuss and look at where we can grow and build the tourism industry up here.” He said he recognised the importance of bringing the different levels of government together in remote regions, which suffer the tyranny of distance, and asked the community to form a tourism strategy.
“I have suggested that at the completion of that, that we bring [in] some key players,” he said. “I’ll make a commitment, as we did in our community meeting, that I’d love to come back. “I’d love to bring more people with me as soon as we’ve got some ideas on what is expected and what the communities want.” Continued PAGE 4 N
Queensland Minister for Tourism and Sport Michael Healy, who said he is ‘blown away’ by the natural beauty of Badu, with Alup Traditional Owner Nancy Nona. Pic by Tammie Matson.
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