Qld boaters 'ramp it up'

Growing concern about how Queensland boat owners are increasingly being over-charged and under-serviced by local and state governments, has prompted the formation of Ramp It Up -- an alliance drawn from some of the state’s 238,000 owners of registered boats.

The first item on their agenda is the Wellington Point Reserve boat ramp, where over-demand for space and repeated illegal parking by cars in reserved boat-trailer spaces is causing unnecessary conflict.

Ramp It Up is offering to work as a conduit with Redland City Council and other users of the reserve to provide a workable solution to the current conflicts.

Ramp It Up spokesman, David Anderson, said more than 100 local boat owners already had aligned with Ramp It Up and, with one in five Redland's households owning a registered boat, he hoped the numbers would quickly expand into the thousands.

"There are many issues confronting boaties -- we’ve got local councillors telling us that a motion recently passed about a trial reduced-parking arrangement at the Wellington Point Reserve ramp was not the motion they thought they were voting on," Mr Anderson said.

"We’ve had decisions made about access times to parking at the ramp without the critical matter of tide heights and water depths at the end of the ramp even being mentioned. 

"People who never have owned a boat are making wild claims about who and when people go boating, as if every boat and person were exactly the same -- it’s time to put some intelligence, facts and reason back into the discussion," Mr Anderson adds.

"As well, we’ve just seen the new State Government advise that it will be plundering half of the $4.5 million paid annually by boat owners for facilities through the recreational use levy.

"Ramp It Up has been advised that the levy, which is paid in addition to boat registration fees... will go into consolidated revenue.

"However, rather than sitting back as armchair critics, we are very committed to working proactively and ensuring fairer representation of  boat owners’ requirements,” Mr Anderson said.

Fort now, anyone interested in becoming part of Ramp It Up should email their contact details to daveandeerson_1@hotmail.com.