By Phil Jarratt
When she moved to Noosa 15 years ago, educator, bookkeeper and community volunteer Kate Gardiner found her place of the heart in Noosa River.
Inspired by the river, she joined a women’s stand-up paddle group where weekly morning sessions on the lower estuary provided a perfect calming counterpoint to her busy working life.
She recalls: “I was still working full-time from home so I had to be at my desk at 8.30 every morning so sometimes on SUP Wednesdays I’d get to my desk still in my swimmers.”
Over the years the group, unofficially known as the SUP Babes, has evolved and grown, but at its core it has remained a foundation for the women in it.
Says Kate: “The age group is about 50 to 80, so women of a certain age if you like. Some have come and gone, and one lives in the US but comes out for a couple of months each year, but there is a core that’s been there all along.
“Stand up paddling for us is about our mental health and our wellbeing.
“Our circle of friends has been through losing life-long partners, divorce, other family issues like looking after elderly parents, and we go out on the river and it calms us down.
“We come away from that paddle session for another week feeling we can manage our lives. And we look out for each other, in the water and out of it.”
But in recent times Kate and her friends have felt so threatened by speeding power boats and river rat hoons that they have had to move up into the quieter stretches of Weyba Creek, launching and returning from mosquito-laden and muddy breaks along the mangrove shore.
And the group has begun to splinter, with some of the women feeling that the pleasures of the river have been taken from them. It’s the classic case of so-called passive users (ie unpowered craft) coming off second best on waterways that are loved by all but dominated by power boats.
Kate Gardiner is not happy about it, and like any good stand up paddler, she’s not going to take it lying down.
She says: “I feel very strongly about making our river safer because for 15 years this group of girls has been getting together to enjoy each other’s company and keep fit, but over the past 12 months or so some of them have been saying they just don’t want to paddle anymore because they don’t feel safe, and we can’t go to the places that suit our needs best, like around the river mouth.
“We were rarely concerned about our safety until a couple of years ago. We paddle as a group and make sure no one gets left behind, but lately we’ve had boats speed by very close and others do u-turns around the group creating wash that has caused a couple to fall off. One person who did that saw what he’d caused but there was no apology, nothing.
“There was another risky incident with the sand dredge at Munna Point where we had to go on a very narrow route around one side of it to avoid the ferry, and a guy on a jet ski pushed us into the dredge area, so we had the dredge driver yelling at us. No one really hurt but what concerns me most is the reluctance of some of the girls now to paddle anywhere except well up in Weyba Creek.”
Kate first took her concerns to Maritime Safety Queensland about 18 months ago, where she says she was told to produce video evidence of safety breaches.
In February 2022 she felt she was finally getting somewhere when she saw a request for community feedback to MSQ on social media on a proposal to gazette a six-knot speed limit for all vessels on the lower reach of the Noosa River from Thomas Street to the Noosa River mouth, a distance of approximately 3.3 km. This year-round speed limit would supersede the normal 20-knot limit and the Christmas and Easter holiday period limit of six knots.
At the time Noosa Today quoted MSQ general manager Kell Dillon as saying: “The river is extremely popular with families, non-motorised craft, speed boats, jet skis and moored craft, and this plan is to make the Noosa River safer for all who use it. There have been complaints over near-misses and fears for the safety of swimmers and children close to speeding craft.”
Not to mention stand up paddlers of a certain age.
Kate and her group duly filled out a questionnaire in which they expressed their strong views about the need for a lower and better-policed river speed limit, but were bitterly disappointed when there were no outcomes from the consultation and nothing changed.
Kate continued to take up the matter with MSQ and with Noosa MP Sandy Bolton, but last month she and her group were shocked to discover that a second and more formal consultation had been announced by MSQ, this time covering several other aspects of river management as well as the speed limit, including mooring and anchoring limits.
She says: “I think that the current consultation is a sham because it’s clouded by these other complex issues that are difficult to understand and even more difficult to address.
“The easy issue is to address speeding on the river, but that’s being diluted by the other things.
“Also I can’t find anything in the survey that tells you whether Noosa residents and ratepayers have more sway in this than someone who’s here for two weeks. I don’t think the survey gives enough recognition to the needs of locals.”
Kate expressed these views and more last week in a letter to Transport Minister Mark Bailey, concluding: “There is no genuine attempt to protect passive river users from aggressive and uncontrolled motorised vehicles. Many locals have real fears that speeding and hooning could have fatal consequences for passive river users.
“With widespread recognition that speeding on Noosa River is out of control I am perplexed as to why MSQ have achieved nothing to address this problem to date… MSQ have failed in their responsibilities to the community and I fear that this issue will only be addressed when someone is killed as a direct result of negligence by MSQ and your department.”
Contacted by Noosa Today this week, Maritime Safety Queensland acting general manager Jim Huggett said increased enforcement action during 10 patrols on Noosa River in December had resulted in a significant drop in speeding and unlicensed operation of vessels.
“MSQ will maintain a highly visible presence throughout Sunshine Coast waters, including the Noosa River, up to and during the Australia Day holiday period. MSQ, Queensland Water Police and QBFP officers are appointed can all take enforcement action which includes issuing infringement notices.
“MSQ started broad, formal public consultation on 9 December 2022 on potential reforms to vessel management on the Noosa River. This consultation concludes on Friday 20 January.
“Subject to the results of the consultation process, legislative amendments will be made to implement the reforms. MSQ is prioritising this matter, working closely with the Noosa Shire Council, and anticipates making further announcements during the drafting process.”
Sandy Bolton told Noosa Today: “The MSQ consultation covers a number of recommendations, with some that could be implemented immediately, such as any potential speed changes, while others that require legislative change would take longer.
“I am awaiting notification of the timeline for when the outcomes will be released, as well as how long it will take for any changes to be implemented.
“It has been a long and often frustrating journey, and understandably I am as eager as anyone to see changes that will result in a safer, happier sharing between users of our river.”
Noosa Today understands many long-time local river users feel that we are closer to achieving fundamental changes to river management that will result in a safer river for all. Let’s hope they’re right.
