FOR the Reverend Canon Garry Dodd, one of the joys of his job at the Mission to Seafarers has been experiencing the hum of humanity, as sailors from around the globe step ashore for a few hours' respite in the Wickham centre.
There's this incredible buzz," said Father Dodd. "It is a joy to be here, and to be part of the highs and lows of their life."
But since the rise of COVID in early 2020, that joy has drifted off into memory.
Before COVID, up to 40 seafarers would visit the centre each day to enjoy a home-cooked meal, pray in the chapel, play the musical instruments, contact home, or to simply be on firm ground. But since the pandemic, and with crews generally not allowed off the visiting ships, days have flowed into weeks into months without a single visitor to the Mission.
In the two and a half years, we've probably had 12 - in total," Father Dodd said.
"The reason why I'm here as a minister is because I really feel this calling, this deep longing to serve seafarers. So to not have them here is really hard, it's like a coldness, like there's this emptiness."
According to Father Dodd, what has also been emptying are the mission's coffers, as revenue streams are reduced to a trickle. The seafarers aren't there to buy from the mission's shop, and donations have dwindled since COVID arrived.
At one stage, the Mission, which celebrates its 150th anniversary next year, faced the prospect of closure.
"If it wasn't for JobKeeper initially, we would have closed the doors here in Newcastle," Father Dodd said, adding he could not imagine the harbour city without a Mission to Seafarers.
"As a major port of Australia, all seafarers just expect there will be a mission in a port like Newcastle, so not to have one would be just incredible. There'd be shockwaves around the world, 'What? A rich country like Australia, a port like Newcastle, they don't have a seafarers' centre?'."
To help fund the mission and other seafarer assistance organisations, Father Dodd has called for the federal government to implement an on-shore welfare levy for seafarers.
"What that would mean is every vessel that comes into the Port of Newcastle, some money would be given for welfare," he said.
"The way that it happens in other countries is it's a user-pays system, it's the owners of those vessels. So it's not Australian taxpayers' money, it's the shipping industry paying for the welfare it's receiving."
He said a fraction of one cent from every tonne shipped through each Australian port would be enough to fund the 28 seafarers' centres around the nation. The Port of Newcastle alone handles about 166 million tonnes of cargo annually.
"If just a fraction of those royalties came to welfare for seafarers ... that would be sufficient," Father Dodd said.
The Catholic chaplain of Stella Maris, Bernadette Barry, who also worked with visiting seafarers in Newcastle, supported the proposal.
"They rely on here [the centre], this is a safe place to be when they come into port," Ms Barry said.
The federal transport and infrastructure minister, Catherine King, was approached for comment on the levy idea, but a response was not received at the time of writing.
Read more: COVID leaves sailors on their ship and all at sea
