While not a Council responsibility, the activities and organisation of the Kiama Boat Owners Association (KBOA) was the subject of much debate at the May Council Meeting, with accusations of it acting like the mafia and being a closed shop.

The President of KBOA, Craig Duren, and other members are bemused.

“We don’t understand what all the fuss was about,” he says.

“The Harbour has always been run by the boatowners. The biggest discussions they [the councillors] had were about how some of our website links didn’t work. That was easily fixed.

“We’ve got nothing to hide and nothing to gain from what we were accused of either.

“Our members are always around to answer any queries. Most of the things that were said the other night were just wrong.”

With just 26 members (equating to the number of private moorings), the KBOA manages the Harbour for Marine NSW (which has recently taken over responsibility from Crown Lands).

Mr Duren believes that people don’t understand the active role they play.

Under their Permissive Occupancy conditions, they are required to:

• maintain the Harbour, fisherman sheds and the moorings
• have oversight of Harbour activity
• provide of visitor moorings
• maintain a mooring waiting list
• register vessel movements
• maintain and manage the slipway.
• Instead the focus was on how long it takes to get a mooring, and how low the fees are compared to marinas.

Council was told that until 2019, a mooring hadn’t become available to those on the waiting list since 1995.

Mr Duran explains that this is because, as happens elsewhere, the mooring has to be abandoned by the previous owner for this to happen. All moorings waiting lists operate in this way.

The other way to obtain a mooring is to buy a boat with a mooring and, providing a range of criteria are met, have the mooring transferred. Mr Duran says that not all boats in the Harbour would qualify for a transfer.

Once a mooring is obtained, it can be held for as long as all the obligations are met. A vessel with a mooring is currently for sale.

In speaking at Council’s Public Access, Todd Jordan said that, amongst other things, the waiting list process needed to be more transparent.

“I don’t have a boat I want to put in the harbour, but I was born in this town and lived here my whole life and I think it’s something that should be administered by the town and by Council.

“It should be open to everyone and everyone should have the same access.”

Councillor Warren Steel remains concerned that the fees paid by the KBOA members are set by the members.

“It is unusual that they get to work out what they have to pay themselves,” he says.

“They need to be accountable to someone.”

Mr Duran says the KBOA is accountable to Maritime and there have been no complaints about the job it does.

“We keep very good records,” he says.

“We don’t make the rules, we abide by them using our volunteer time.”

The vessels and moorings are regularly audited by the authorities, and the KBOA liaises with Waterways and Maritime NSW on many issues.

The fees vary each year, depending on what maintenance needs to be done.

President Craig Duren indicates the two public moorings at the entrance to the harbour - one of which is currently being used by a boat needing repairs

“Only two years ago, we spent $27,000 to replace all the asbestos off the fishing sheds,” he says.

“This year we are about to spend $80-100,000 upgrading the slipway.”

This year’s fees will be around $5000 per mooring, which includes a base rate of around $1500 to cover fees, utilities, and other annual charges.

In addition to this, Mr Duran says the Association members use their own equipment and work together to get the jobs done, including being on 24 hour call when problems arise.

“If another body took it over, without the commitment of our members, it would cost so much more for a mooring and the same rules would apply.”

Questions were also raised about the availability of the two public moorings at the Harbour.

“We maintain the two moorings as a short term refuge for passing vessels, and they are regularly used, particularly as we are the first slipway south of Sydney,” says Mr Duran.

“Our contact details are on our website.”

Councillor Steel’s original motion to have Council considered to take over responsibility for the Harbour was watered down to discussing with Transport for NSW the available options for managing Kiama Harbour, over lack of knowledge about what would be involved.