$31m Better Boating Fund sucked dry with admin costs a massive drain

How much money left for ramp and other boating facility upgrades after admin fees has been revealed in a public government document.

Less than $5 million of a $31 Better Boating Fund is going back to boating facilities.

Victorian boat owners are getting less than $5 million back for boating facility upgrades, on the $31 million they pay in marine licence and registration fees each year.

On October 31, 2018 Premier Daniel Andrews issued a media release stating that if re-elected: “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”.

Yet a Department of Transport regulatory impact statement on boating fees, released for public comment this month, shows grants for boating facilities have been capped at $5 million since the election, while $11.4 million was spent on regulation and administration, including:

$6.5 MILLION for VicRoads to administer recreational marine licences and vessel registrations.

$3 MILLION for Transport Safety Victoria, of which $488,689 was spent on corporate management, $441,922 on “other activities”, $751,954 on “certification support” and $621,469 on waterway and navigational safety.

$1.9 MILLION went to Emergency Management Victoria for marine search and rescue units.

The department “identified some factors which would suggest that the regulatory cost base is not entirely efficient and may change”.

But even so, the RIS highlighted “the amount currently available for spending under the Victorian Recreational Boating Strategy for priority infrastructure and facilities investments is estimated to be $19.6 million per annum”, although most of this was going into consolidated revenue.

Meanwhile Boating Minister Melissa Horne has overseen a Boating Facilities and Safety Education grants scheme, which DoT reported was capped at $5 million a year.

But the Better Boating Victoria website states the scheme had only funded “35 projects worth more than $1.9 million” for 2020-21.

Boating Industry Association of Victoria chief executive Steve Walker said spending on boating facilities had been limited to $2-3 million over recent years.

He said the administration fees “seemed excessive”.

But Mr Walker hoped the situation would turn around, once the Government established the Better Boating Fund on July 1, which he hoped would deliver at least $20 million going to boating facilities upgrades.

But last week’s 2021-22 state budget allocates just $10.962 million in 2021-22 to “Better boating fund and free boat ramp launching and parking”.

Minister Horne said the Better Boating Fund’s first action plan would be released in mid-this year.

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