New business route for charter company
LOCAL bus companies struggling to find work have been handed a lifeline by Darwin council, with Darwin’s Green Army transported to their front line by a local charter company.
Eco Charters owner Colin
Carthew said his work had dried up until his gig with council, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic and the vanishing tourism industry.
“It’s all gone, the dry season’s gone this year and I don’t work during the Wet,” he said. “The schools aren’t doing bus charters at the moment; they aren’t going to play badminton or squash and all these other things … camps aren’t happening so there’s nothing.
“I do have a little bit of work with Darwin High but everything else has dried up.”
Darwin Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis said it was his duty to give local businesses work where he could.
“We’ve got mini buses helping, they haven’t got a job and the tourism industry doesn’t exist any more. Why shouldn’t we employ locals?” he said. “For a long time I have been very, very strong on employing locals – 95 per cent to 100 per cent of what we acquire, goods and services, has to be local.”