$10,000 barras: Porkbarrelling or fishbarelling?

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p2297-barra-1By ERWIN CHLANDA
 
Are we missing something here? By our count, not a single one of the five tagged $10,000 barramundis caught so far was hooked by someone who travelled to the Territory.
 
So far we understand a total of $50,000 in money managed by the NT Government’s Tourism NT has been pocketed by locals. If this is not porkbarrelling, could it possibly be fishbarrleling?
 
Is the trip that the winners have taken was from their home to the nearest boat ramp?
 
p2297-barra-2Chief Minister Adam Giles thinks that’s not only alright, he thinks it’s great – judging by his tweets.
 
So just to be sure, we put these questions to Tourism NT. We tried to get the answers on the ‘phone but the minder insisted we put the questions in writing. So here is what we emailed:-
 
[1] Is it correct that all five of the $10,000 barras caught so far have been caught by people living in the Northern Territory?
 
[2] Is this a tourism promotion?
 
[3] How does paying $50,000 to local fishermen, who do not have to travel to the Territory because they live here, act as a tourism promotion?
 
We’ll let you know the answers.
 
 

4 COMMENTS

  1. Only a few people may have caught a tagged Barra, but how many people have come to the top end to try? Probably quite a few, and with that comes money for accommodation, food, entertaining and touring.
    Darwin is well known for its fishing, I just see this as a way to capitalise on that.
    I entered, went north and caught a couple, unfortunately no tags.
    Great to see some lateral thinking on ways to get tourist numbers up.
    The target market was specific, so sorry Erwin, on this one I disagree, it think it was a good way to “lure” in people to visit a wonderful part of our Territory.

  2. Hi Ray, your question is spot on: “How many people have come to the top end to try?”
    We asked Tourism NT on Monday: “Is this a tourism promotion? How does paying $50,000 to local fishermen, who do not have to travel to the Territory because they live here, act as a tourism promotion?”
    No answer yet. We’ll publish it when we get it, of course.
    On July 13 we suggested the competition should be restricted to visitors. See http://www.alicespringsnews.com.au/2015/07/13/snagging-tourists-or-voters/ and today’s post at http://www.alicespringsnews.com.au/2015/11/27/1m-barra-campaign-is-a-winner-says-tourism-nt/
    Erwin Chlanda, Editor

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