What a catch: Big win for Victoria’s fishers ahead of state election

The Andrews Government today announced it would provide better boat ramps, free parking and no launching fees for the state’s fishing community – if it is re-elected.

Labor’s pre-election promise is about as wide-reaching as the plan stumped up to the electorate by the Guy-led Liberal opposition in early September.

The tit-for-tat promise is a win for lobby groups that have pressured the government to tip more of the fees collected from recreational boat users into improving facilities, including reducing the long launching and retrieval queues that regularly form at overcrowded Port Phillip and Western Port bay launching ramps.

“A re-elected Andrews Labor Government will make it cheaper and easier for Victorian families to get out on the water, with an unprecedented boost to recreational boating and fishing,” the government said in a statement.

“Labor will fix boat ramps, abolish all boat ramp parking and launching fees and make sure that every cent of licencing and registration fees is spent on boating safety and facilities.”

The Andrews government said it would establish what it called the Better Boating Fund to kick off urgently needed work on boat ramps at overcrowded sites including Mordialloc, Queenscliff, Point Richards, Hastings and Rhyll.

“Paying to park your car and trailer at a boat ramp will be a thing of the past with Labor committing to abolish boat ramp parking fees, saving families up to $315 a year on an annual parking permit,” a statement announcing the election sweetener said.

“There’ll also be eight new casual berths across the bay accessible to the public.”

The move matches an announcement made by the Liberal Opposition in early September that, if it swept to power on November 24, it would use more of the millions of dollars that recreational water users tipped into the state’s purse via licencing and access fees to create what it called the Blue Infrastructure Fund.

The opposition said the fund would help provide more boat ramps, jetties, and navigational lighting, as well as onshore facilities including bigger car parks and more cleaning tables.

However, Labor has not said where it will source the funds from to kick off the infrastructure project – a criticism it was quick to level at the opposition’s Blue Infrastructure Fund’s proposed spending.

“The Liberals need to come clean on their plans to cut funding for marine safety operations to pay for this fund,” Ports Minister Luke Donnellan said in the wake of the opposition’s plans dropping.

The government is estimated to collect around $27 million in fees from recreational boaters each year, with infrastructure spending on the facilities boaters use only accounting for about $3 million of that, the Victorian branch of Boating Industry Australia claims.

Under the Marine Safety Act, fees collected by government can be used for the provision and maintenance of boating facilities and services for the public, and for boating safety, education and promotion programs.