'Shambolic' trailerboat parking laws
Boating Industry Association slams discriminatory new boat-parking laws in NSWThe Boating Industry Association of NSW (BIA) says it is appalled and condemns the last minute amendments in the NSW Parliament to Government Bills on parking of boat trailers on public streets.
In its most recent newsletter, the BIA says the new laws are totally unnecessary, introducing red tape and that they are discriminatory against recreational boating and may act as a real negative for those who wish to pursue the boating lifestyle.
It will introduce inconsistencies where local government areas opt in or do nothing and places increased costs not only on councils to administer, but also boat owners, the BIA says.
Roy Privett, the GM of the BIA, says the NSW Government has really targeted recreational boating by failing to deliver the legislation across all types of trailers and these actions will have a negative impact on a struggling industry. We have to concur with this discriminatory legislation.
A three-month period without moving a trailer was previously proposed and changed to 28 days. Why? What deals have been done and for what reason. The boating industry, boat owners and Boat Owners Association were not consulted over a last minute amendment to the law.
Here is a summary presented by Minister Duncan Gay in introducing amendments to the Impounding Amendment (Unattended Boat Trailers) Bill 2015 which is now LAW….
"First, councils and other impounding authorities can opt in to new measures for all or part of their area of operations, improving local flexibility; second, boat trailers must be moved within a period of 28 days rather than three months; third, trailer owners must move at least as far as a different section of the road, past the next intersection; and fourth, where councils and other impounding authorities opt in, the strengthened impoundment powers will not apply in the case of a boat trailer that is parked on a road in accordance with an official residential parking permit” (BIA can smell a revenue raising opportunity for Councils and discriminatory enforcement). Minister Gay went on to say: “these measures will provide councils and other enforcement officers with a clear power to direct that boat trailers be moved on or impounded after being parked in the same place for 28 days, but only in declared areas and only after 15 days notice being given to the owner."
This is shambolic legislation introduced to appease a minority of Sydney Council, taking away the rights of boat owners to park registered boat trailers, says the BIA. The way this has been handled is equivalent to ex-Premier Bob Carr’s banning of PWC on Sydney Harbour. Both acts are pure nonsense and should be reversed.
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