Boating News

14 September 2026

The Boating Industry Association (BIA) today expressed its disappointment with this morning’s announcement by the NSW Government to ban powered vessels from areas of Port Stephens this summer.

The State Government announced trial bans last year with no consultation with key stakeholders such as BIA, Australian Fishing Trade Association, Newcastle & Port Stephens Game Fish Club or Boat Owners Association of NSW and provided no data on incidents, hospitalisations or alternatives to exclusion zones.

BIA spokesperson Neil Patchett said exclusion and bans are blunt tools that typically on their own do not solve problem behaviour, rather it moves the problem, usually caused by a minority, to other areas whilst punishing the majority.

Patchett said, “There are substantial precedents of better solutions to such problems by combining education, compliance, enforcement and behaviour change campaigns.

The best boating safety outcomes in NSW over the past 30 years were achieved by NSW Government delivering sustained and funded education programs, and working with industry.

“BIA finds it troubling that the NSW Government is imposing ‘spot bans’ on a relatively safe activity enjoyed by millions of people in NSW, where almost 1-5 households have a boat or some form of watercraft.

Instead of bans and exclusion, the industry calls on the State Government to enforce the many existing rules for safe and responsible boating, and to adopt a 5 Point Plan for education, compliance, enforcement and behaviour change, where there is robust evidence of anti-social and or unsafe boating.”

A 5 Point Plan to be deployed by Transport for NSW in consultation with industry:

• Adopt road safety infringement-issuing compliance cameras to waterway ‘hot spots’;
• Adopt an effective mechanism to suspend or cancel a licence, and seize vessels for the most serious offences;
• Deliver an appropriate, sustained and funded behaviour change campaign aimed at Responsible Boating starting with personal watercraft and evolving to other boating categories as appropriate; 
• A dedicated component should be a PWC rider behaviour change campaign, sustained and funded by 20% of the additional revenue received from the fee increases on PWC in 2024;
• Consider adopting Transport for NSW Hoon legislation for roads for NSW waters; and
• Consider adopting the points demerit system for motor vehicle licences to the waterways. 

For information on BIA go to: www.bia.org.au

Written by:

Neil Patchett BIA