$33m Better Boating Fund: Slow rollout

Victorian boat owners have paid $33 million in registration and license fees, but to date just $19 million has been spent on ramps, admin and safety.

It’s been a slow rollout of the boat owners’ funds to upgrade boat ramps.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is yet to deliver in full on his 2018 election promise to spend “every cent” of boat owners’ registration and marine license fees on ramps, jetties, and other facilities and services that benefit the industry.

It took until July last year for the government to lodge $33.3 million of boaters’ fees from 2020-21 into what it called the Better Boating Trust Fund, to be spent in 2021-22.

A report of the fund’s financials released this week shows that while $33.3m was allocated to various projects and government agencies, only $19.3m had been spent by July 1 this year.

Of that spending $10.2m has gone to “statewide initiatives”, including:

$4.1m on administration of recreational marine licencing and vessel registration (to cover VicRoads’ costs).

$4.7m on “administration of recreational marine activities”.

$1.2m on safety initiatives.

Another $1.2m was allocated to Marine Safety Victoria, $1m for Marine Search and Rescue units, plus $920,000 for Emergency Management Victoria.

While $14m of last financial year’s funds are yet to be spent, Boating Minister Sonya Kilkenny has announced a further $42m would be allocated from the fund in 2022-23, assuming Labor is re-elected on November 26.

Just where the $42m comes from remains unclear, as just $32m of boat owner fees flowed into the fund in 2021-22 for allocation in 2022-23.

Ms Kilkenny announced the funding in the must-win seat of Geelong, alongside sitting Labor MP Christine Couzens, at Limeburners Point Boat Ramp, where they promised $2.5m to build 50 new car and boat trailer spaces.

Another $12m is due to be spent on major boat ramp infrastructure upgrades at Avalon, Clifton Springs, Kirk Point, Lake Burrumbeet, Cowes Boat Ramp and Mahers Landing near Inverloch.

Boating Industry Association of Victoria chief executive Steve Walker said the sector welcomed the commitments and had accepted that $10m of the funds would go to government administration and agencies.

He said in the lead-up to the 2018 election the sector ran the highly successful Ramp Rage campaign, which got both Labor and the Liberal-Nationals Coalition to commit to spending boaters’ fees on upgrades after years’ of neglect.

He said this time around BIAV was hoping both sides of politics would commit to ensuring the fund was hypothecated, whereby all boaters fees flowed straight in, rather than the current situation whereby the Treasurer decided how much money flowed in.