NTSA chief backs heritage decision
NTSA chief executive Nicolette Di Lernia has responded to criticism from Moonta branch committee members, volunteers and supporters, issuing strong remarks of her own.
“The ones that are saying the NTSA has made the wrong decision are causing unnecessary distress to the community by spreading misinformation,” Ms Di Lernia said yesterday, Monday, March 2.
“There’s a mob mentality fuelled by a few very ill-informed people.
“A very nasty culture has grown up in Moonta.”
Ms Di Lernia accused some volunteers of harassing the three paid NTSA staff who live and work in Moonta.
“They have got their lives in Moonta and they are being made to feel unsafe in their own town,” she said.
Ms Di Lernia has given a range of reasons for the takeover, including the need for improved financial management, compliance with regulations, accountability, and the need to reduce the burden on volunteers on running the site’s attractions.
“The sites are not closed permanently, and we have not disbanded the Moonta branch,” she said.
“We have suspended the branch’s executive committee. This also is temporary.
“Our volunteers have not been suspended or told they are not wanted.
“This claim, in particular, is causing deep distress in the community.”
Ms Di Lernia said she had sent many emails to volunteers and made multiple trips to Moonta to explain the situation.
“We are spending a lot of time and energy helping to manage this enormous branch,” she said.
“The community knew that we had concerns. I had provided them with details in writing of what we wanted to improve.
“We were making progress on some things.”
YPCT asked Tourism Minister Zoe Bettison for comments about the potential impact of the Moonta Mines closure on regional tourism.
A state government spokesperson responded and said the National Trust operated independently from government with its own rules and governance structures, under the National Trust of South Australia Act 1955.
“The Trust is responsible for matters relating to its operations,” the spokesperson said.
“We remain supportive of the Australian Cornish Mining Sites: Burra and Moonta Consortium bid for World Heritage listing
of the site.”
Ms Di Lernia said some branch committee members were resistant to change and had “held the reins very tightly for a very long time”.
She said the Moonta branch was part of the single legal and financial NSTA entity and it was not an “us and them situation”.
While she has previously pointed out the Moonta branch has an annual turnover of $600,000, Ms Di Lernia said the branch “spends more than it makes”.
She denied the suspension of the branch committee was part of a “cash grab” to benefit NTSA and said separate bank accounts were still being held for the Moonta branch.
She criticised the branch for spending $120,000 to build a crib room for the railway volunteers and said they had failed to save $300,000 needed to replace the train engine.
Copper Coast Residents and Ratepayers Association president Neil Windsor, who spoke at the Friday rally, rejected claims made by the NTSA about the branch’s financial management.
He said the branch held $200,000 in four fixed term deposits and had another $90,000 in general accounts.
Mr Windsor said the new engine would cost about $30,000 rather than the $300,000 quoted by Ms Di Lernia.
