In the wake of the terror attacks on the United States in 2001, much changed and much needed to change, however while security is important to our lives, so is the ability to live our lives in a society with as much freedom and with as little constraint as the modern world will allow.

I say this in reference to security that has been put in place for Australia’s Ports.  In 2003, the Australian Government created new Maritime Security laws, for, all intents and purposes, to prevent terrorists from striking an an essential part of the nations infrastructure.  While this is of course is an admirable thing to do, unfortunately, a perhaps unwanted outcome of the laws is that some Ports have now completely cut off access to the general public.

Specifically, I have found that the Bunbury Port Authority has done this more than most.  I live in Bunbury and have lived in the South West region of Western Australia for most of my thirty-four years, and it used to be that the general public had excellent access to the Port. Indeed I remember that I would fish from one of the Inner Harbour berths, or just go to the port to watch the ships.  I spent many an evening enjoying seeing the ships and watching the activities at the port.

Come forward a decade and a half and unfortunately much has changed.  First access to Berth Eight was cut off.  Berth Eight is the ports general purpose and I would say least utilized berth at the port so many would fish from the berth, as did I, as well as enjoy looking over to the Alumina and Woodchip berths.

Most recently, the Bunbury Port Authority has acted less like a Port Authority and more like the military guarding some top secret facility.  It’s a crying shame as law abiding citizens who pose no threat to the ports infrastructure, are completely cut off from former fishing, ship spotting and other recreational areas.

Specifically, the Bunbury Port Authority, with their actions in effectively fortifying the port,  has gone too far in interpreting the Maritime Security laws, and certainly the laws intentions. One might even argue that that the extreme lengths the Port Authority has gone to to fortify the port, may have caused them more trouble as hoons and vandals wreck newly installed gates and fences.  And while Bunbury has hoons and vandals for sure, and they ought to be ashamed of themselves for behaving in a way that affects law abiding citizens, they are just that, hoons and vandals, and certainly not terrorists.

Another group of Australians that are not terrorists, are its children, and what child these days isn’t enamoured with trucks, ships and trains!  My parents took me to places where I could see all these sorts of things when I was a child, and that probably played a not insignificant part in why I publish Freightscene.com today.  As I mention in the About the Author section, planes, trains, ships and trucks are all things that interested me as a child and interest me now.

And while I do not have children of my own, it was a real treat on Wednesday and Thursday to be with my nephew.  He will be three in September, and like many other children, he just loves to see trucks and ships and most definitely trains!  So off we went down near the Port as Alumina is shipped too, and Caustic Soda is shipped from the port, so there’s a chance of seeing a train, perhaps every hour.

However when we arrived at the crossing, no train. There was a train unloading Alumina, but that was firmly behind what I now call, The Green Monster.  While the Green Monster to my American readers means the left field wall at Baseball’s Fenway Park, to me it is the miles and miles of green chain-link fence that now surrounds the port, barring any public access to it, you cannot even travel down an innocuous road that offers just a fleeting,  distant glimpse of the train at its unloading facility, it’s ridiculous.  Having said that, lets just say, my Nephew saw his train!

Still, that little victory aside, in the longer term, the Bunbury Port Authority will insist on barring the public from the port, a part of Bunbury that people had gleaned great joy from, over the years, before The Green Monster sprung up to surround the Port.

I hope, but doubt, that some common sense will emanate from within the Bunbury Port Authority on this matter.  Unfortunately, they have gone way overboard with their security clampdown.  Indeed, as far as I can tell, from my travels around Western Australia, no other ports, not Albany, not Esperance, and not even Fremantle have barred the public to the extent that the Bunbury Port Authority has.  It’s time for the Bunbury Port Authority to wind back some of the Green Monster, and let me, my nephew and the general public enjoy the facility as we have, without complication, in previous years.

By Findlay Osborn - Freightscene.com

Photos: Below are some of the security measures and warnings you can find at the Bunbury Port, thanks to the Bunbury Port Authority.                          Please forgive the frustration caused colour commentary.

The Bunbury Port Authority makes it clear that this innocuous road to no-where is not for the public.

The Green Monster in action.  There is miles of it!

 

The Bunbury Port Authority, taking cues from the former Soviet Union perhaps?

Big Brother, comes to Bunbury, we’ve been warned apparently.

Razor Wire!!!  Bleed terrorists bleed!

Opportunity lost. No more pictures or good times like this. A real shame.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 27th, 2008 at 2:51 pm and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.