By PAUL MILLAR
QUEENSCLIFF Golf Club has become a casualty of the annual battle between the Defence Department and anti-war protesters.
The department “suspended all non-essential access to Swan Island from 21-25 September 2015 to coincide with the annual anti-war protest” leaving the golf club without income.
Golf club president Graeme Welsh said it was a time when the club should be taking advantage of an influx of visitors and families during the school holidays – instead, they were starved of income.
“We are caught between the two, we have been there for more than 100 years and do not want to upset the department, we want to be there in another 100 years,” Mr Welsh said
“It’s not good for us – we understand the Defence Department’s point of view but we are suffering financially as a result, especially during the school holidays.”
Protesters target the island as it is a training ground for special units, including counter-terrorism police and is used by the elite Special Air Service.
It is run by the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, the agency that operates overseas as a sister organisation to the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation. It has been a repeated target of anti-war protesters. Swan Island Peace Convergence organisers said they planned to run a golf tournament on the island this year “to bolster revenue to the golf club’’ which they acknowledge has been disadvantaged by their previous actions.
Mr Welsh said the golf club had no relationship with the activists.
The protesters have had a running battle with authorities over the years with eight people arrested last year, when they breached a security fence, entering one of Australia’s key anti-terrorism training centres.
However, the group said that this year it had no intentions of disrupting the base during its annual pilgrimage and instead wanted to hold a “Peace Classic”.
“There is simply no reasonable excuse for the Department of Defence to close the island under these circumstances,” according Greg Rolles, one of the event organisers.
