Cape York rescue volunteers set to quit over Blue Card backlash

A critical maritime service in western Cape York will potentially lose more than a third of its volunteers if its members are forced to apply for Blue Cards, a longtime skipper says.

VMR Weipa's Rescue One runs search and rescue operations throughout western Cape York.

A critical maritime service in western Cape York will potentially lose more than a third of its volunteers if members are forced to apply for Blue Cards, a longtime skipper says.

Volunteer Marine Rescue (VMR) Weipa runs search and rescue operations throughout the region, operating a vessel with a range of 450 nautical miles based at Evans Landing boat ramp to the south of the township.

But member Steve Rehn warned the service is under threat with volunteers required to undergo mandatory working with children checks as the VMR and Coast Guard merge into a new entity over the next 12 months.

The Queensland Rural Fire Service (QRFS) lost around 2,000 volunteers after mandating Blue Cards. Picture: Supplied.

VMR Weipa currently has around 30 active members but could lose up to a dozen participants, Mr Rehn said, with several unwilling to be subject to the police check.

“I’m probably going to walk away,” he said.

“We don’t interact with children (when volunteering with VMR Weipa). It doesn’t really have anything to do with them and if they’re involved they have parents or guardians with them.

“I will be making sure this ridiculous bureaucratic department doesn’t get involved. We struggle for membership and support in rural areas anyway.

“You knock a couple of members out and the whole thing falls over.”

Mr Rehn, who is also the president of the Portland Roads Rural Fire Service, said the policy threatened to decimate that volunteer group before it was “reclassified” as a primary producer brigade.

“That’s what happened in Lockhart River,” he said. “There’s no-one left now. We’re just here to fight fires and protect people.”

Queensland Rural Fire Service (QRFS) reportedly lost more than 2,000 volunteers when Blue Cards were made mandatory for all members in 2021.

Katter's Australia Party candidate for Cook, Duane Amos says the current regulations around Blue Cards are robbing Cape York communities of desperately needed volunteers. Picture: Samuel Davis

Katter’s Australia Party (KAP) candidate Duane Amos said Cape community groups were being wiped out by Blue Card policies.

“It has absolutely devastated Indigenous employment,” Mr Amos said.

“If you don’t have a workforce, or volunteers because of a Brisbane-based policy that hurts people on a day-to-day basis.”

The police officer, who’s worked in remote communities including Aurukun, Weipa and Kowanyama during his career, said he would lobby for amendments to current Blue Card legislation, if elected.

“It doesn’t meet the needs of the rural sector. It’s been dreamed up in Brisbane but there’s been no consultation about how it will actually work,” Mr Amos said.

Reducing the risk of sex offenders serving in community organisations was paramount to ensuring Queenslanders were kept safe, Police Minister Mark Ryan said.

“Volunteer Marine Rescue Association Queensland (VMRAQ) and Coast Guard strongly support Blue Cards,” Mr Ryan said.

“People who wear a uniform representing a community safety organisation have to be of utmost integrity and reputation.

“I’d be extremely disappointed if anyone suggested the contrary.”

A Queensland Family and Child Commission (QFCC) report published last year called for Blue Cards to be scrapped for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kinship carers, arguing the system relies on “irrelevant information, overpolicing and subjective assessments”.

The VMRAQ has 25 squadrons located throughout the state, extending across more than 2,700km from the southern border to the Torres Strait region.

Originally published as Cape York rescue volunteers set to quit over Blue Card backlash