New lifejacket laws

We're improving on-water safety by changing our lifejacket laws.

Starting on 1 December 2024, you must wear a lifejacket during high-risk boating activities.

We will be focusing on education, with enforcement delayed until 1 July 2025. Additionally, by 1 September 2025, all lifejackets must meet the current Australian Standard AS 4758.

Learn more about the new lifejacket laws.

Gold Coast and Tweed to host maritime emergency response exercise

Maritime Safety Queensland, with the Australian Maritime Safety Authority and Transport New South Wales, will co-lead Exercise Dumaresq 24, a maritime emergency response drill, in the Tweed River and Gold Coast regions between 28 and 30 October.
There will be temporary closures to two small sections of Roughton Park, Kirra, and Winders Park, Currumbin.

Currumbin Creek near the Gold Coast Highway will be a 'take caution' area where pollution response equipment, such as oil booms, will be deployed during the exercise, but will remain accessible to the public.

The exercise will involve federal, state and local authorities and see field staff deploying oil equipment and techniques at these and other locations in the Tweed region.

They will not be responding to a 'real' incident and there will be no impact on community safety, the environment, cultural assets, local businesses or sporting and recreational activities.

In the interest of safety, the public is respectfully asked not to approach staff involved in the exercise.

Australia's economy and lifestyle are heavily dependent on the import and export of goods via large trading ships and exercises like this are key to reducing the environmental risks of shipping.

Exercise Dumaresq 24 will be undertaken under arrangements Australia has in place under the National Plan for Maritime Environmental Emergencies for responding to a major maritime emergency.

New plan for boating on the Noosa waterways

We are committed to easing congestion on the Noosa River. Based on the feedback from our community consultation we are delivering staged improvements including:

Our priority is to educate and communicate with the community while we implement the Noosa River vessel waterway management plan.

Learn more about the Noosa waterways safety improvements.

Download the Noosa River Public Consultation Results.

Abandoned property—Cabbage Tree Creek Boat Harbour

A Holden Captiva with Queensland registration number 255-MXF is believed to have been abandoned in the Cabbage Tree Creek Boat Harbour. If this vehicle is yours, please read the Detention Notice for further details.

Double Island Point revised speed zone

6-knot speed limit zone has been extended to include the western parts of the lagoon at Double Island Point lagoon area on the Fraser Coast.

Learn more about the Double Island Point revised speed zone.

Cyclones, storms and floods – be prepared and stay safe in extreme weather events

Maritime Safety Queensland has prepared an Extreme Weather Event Contingency Plan to help you plan now for what you will do if a warning is issued. The plan includes an overarching document containing critical information for all areas and separate appendices for each port or waterway area, containing relevant local information.

For more information, you can:

Maritime aids to navigation in the Torres Strait

Maritime Safety Queensland’s (MSQ’s) $3.9 million program to upgrade the maritime aids to navigation network in the Torres Strait is well underway.

In the Torres Strait, locals use the many aids to navigation in their waterways to make sure they travel, and return home, safely. The waterways are used for transport for work and education, travel between communities, and cultural activities. 

Following consultation with waterway users and key stakeholders the first phase of implementation works was completed at the end of 2023, with the upgrades to marine buoys situated throughout the straits. The new marine buoys are larger and better designed to handle the sea conditions experienced in the Torres Strait.

In addition, MSQ has installed new marine aids to navigation in several locations, identified during consultation, to further aid safe navigation. This includes:

  • new landfall light Kubin
  • additional buoys to further delineate the Boigu and Saibai Island’s channels
  • new buoys marking shoal offshore from Boigu and Saibai Island
  • new buoys marking shoal hazards on the approach to Hammond, Thursday and Entrance Islands as well as at Brady Bank offshore from Seisia
  • new buoy marking the entrance to the boat ramp at Injinoo.

Please refer to MSQ’s Notice to Mariners for specific details of each new installation.

MSQ is expecting to commence the second phase of the implementation works in March, with new steel beacons to be installed at several offshore locations, namely:

  • southern approach to Badu
  • entrance through the reef to St Pauls
  • Buru (Turnagain) Island
  • Numar Reef.

Steel beacons have been chosen due to the significant waves and currents encountered at these locations, as well as to optimise the visible range of the light at night.

In addition, a landfall light will be established at Mer Island and extra beacons installed to better delineate the channel at Warraber Island.

MSQ expects the second phase to be completed by June 2024.

 

Backing Queensland Maritime Jobs Initiative

The Queensland Government is implementing its Backing Queensland Maritime Jobs Grant Programs.

Read more about the initiative

Port by the water

War on Wrecks

As at 30 June 2024, there are 1,425 fewer derelicts in Queensland waters because of Maritime Safety Queensland's War on Wrecks program. With around 569 additional vessels identified either as derelict or at risk of becoming derelict, we will continue to remove these rotting, unseaworthy and derelict vessels from our bays, rivers, and creeks.

Video transcript

Queensland is world-renowned for its beautiful waterways.

From the tip of Cape York to the Gold Coast, from the Great Barrier Reef through to our rivers and creeks, there's nowhere better to dive, fish or simply cruise.

In 2018, the Queensland Government committed $20 million over four years to the War on Wrecks program to remove derelict vessels and other hazards to help make these waterways pristine and safe.

A further $15 million for three years was committed in the 2022-23 budget, building on the success of the initial four-year program.

Maritime Safety Queensland, along with their partner agencies, are cleaning up Queensland.

And we need your help on the job by identifying existing vessels that have become waterway hazards as well as preventing the further abandonment of boats.

Because of the War on Wrecks, in the four years to June 2022, there's 1026 fewer derelict vessels in our waterways.

Ranging from sunken tinnies to barges—some barely recognisable—we've been making your waterways safer and cleaner.

In the 2021-22 financial year alone, the program has been responsible for the removal of 180 hazards from our bays, creeks and islands.

We have another 150 vessels on our to do list.

In May the program reached a major milestone with the removal of its 1,000th wreck – the Sonda from Cabbage Tree Creek.

Regions:

Every part of Queensland has benefitted from the program.

[Cairns] In Cairns, whether you enjoy snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef or boating in tropical waters, there's now 134 less wrecks to detract from the region's beauty, and we're monitoring another 25.

[Townsville] If you're cruising around Magnetic Island or venturing out to the Hinchinbrook Channel, there are 86 fewer wrecks across the beaches and coastal areas around Townsville, making it safer, with another 5 being monitored.

[Mackay/Whitsunday] In Mackay and Whitsunday, known for its freshwater dams and hidden fishing spots, we are protecting the environment with 73 fewer derelicts, and we are managing 9 more wrecks.

[Gladstone] Think coral cays, rivers and tropical islands. Unfortunately abandoned vessels have caused issues for the beaches and ports in the Gladstone region. Since July 2018, the clean-up in this region means 123 fewer abandoned, and we have another 26 on our radar.

[Brisbane]Sunshine Coast, Brisbane, and the Gold Coast; we want these areas to be known as home to a treasure trove of sandy stretches, not navigation and pollution hazards. To date, the War on Wrecks program has been responsible for a decrease of 610 derelict vessels to improve the environment, and another 85 are being monitored by the team.

Now, we want you on board to help develop a whole-of-life approach towards responsible boat ownership, all the way through from manufacture to responsible disposal. We are looking at ways to ensure that everyone can safely enjoy Queensland's marine environment and invite you to work with us so we can all continue to enjoy safer, cleaner seas.

Watch for regional forums in 2023. To join the conversation, search War on Wrecks.

 

Find out more about the War on Wrecks.

Maritime Minutes

Do you know which navigation lights you need for your powered vessel? Watch our video to find out.

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