Noosa River houseboat residents fear lives will be lost by desperate owners contemplating taking their river boats across the treacherous bar in order to comply with new Maritime Safety Queensland (MSQ) rules.
MSQ has told live aboard boat owners without a registered mooring from 1 January they will be allowed only a 28 day stay per financial year and have to move their boats out of the river.
Liveaboard houseboat owner Sally Hayes, who is trying to find a path forward for herself and others facing eviction from the river, said with only days remaining to the deadline people were becoming desperate.
“Two people have said to me I’m going to have to go out over the bar in a riverboat not designed to go to sea. The river mouth is so treacherous even a competent boat person is struggling to go over the bar and you’ve got women with no boating experience out on the ocean going to take a riverboat over the bar because they’re pushed against the wall, because they’ve had no options, no support at all,” she said.
Another boat owner sold his $160,000 boat for $1 last Friday, Sally said. “That is his life savings gone.”
After visiting boat owners on the river Sally calculates there to be about 27 full time live aboard boats and another 80 used part time in unregistered moorings that will be affected by the new rules.
“Most people – everyone I’ve spoken to bar one or two are absolutely willing to comply if they had the means,” she said.
“They don’t want to go into debt, the majority don’t have any where to move it. If they did they’d be on their land base already.”
A Maritime Safety Queensland spokesperson told Noosa Today:
“Implementation of the Noosa River Management Plan commenced in 2023 and has been introduced to make the river safer and more accessible. These changes are the result of extensive community consultation taking place since 2021.
“Vessel owners are required to comply with Queensland’s maritime laws. Compliance measures may include education, fines, and, if necessary, the removal and disposal of non-compliant vessels.
“Anyone experiencing genuine hardship should contact Maritime Safety Queensland.”
Sally said she had asked MSQ “multiply times” what her options were but they had “given me nothing, no direction to go in. “They’ve not offered any information,” she said.
“They’ve given me Youturn, a youth organisation that’s stretched to the limits. There are families out there that need their help.
“While we have a roof over our head it seems absurd these people are forcing the issue and making more people homeless to exacerbate the situation.”
Sally said many of the houseboat owners were given liveaboard licensing application forms from MSQ in March 2025 and believed this exempted them from the new rules.
“They’ve made this offer to people, saying your boat is compliant, we’ll put it in for processing. These people who were under the impression they’re going to get a live aboard license because their boats are compliant, they’ve not made any extra plans, they were given that letter there shouldn’t be any problem,” she said.
Rachael and Mark Hills took out a loan in March 2025 to buy their 10.5m x 4.6m houseboat which they use on weekends and had hoped to move on to permanently this year, having no idea they would have to move their boat off the river.
Rachael told Noosa Today two months after their purchase MSQ officers told them they wanted the liveaboards to move to Lake Cooroibah and 50m from mangroves.
She said the previous owners had told them MSQ were bringing in new rules but wouldn’t move them.
In November 2025 they were notified of the 28 day anchor rule, she said.
“We’re looking at $20,000 to move it,” she said.
The couple have listed their houseboat for sale. She said they’d had a lot of interest but that halts when they tell prospective buyers of new MSQ rules.
She is now paying rent in Noosa and paying off the loan on the boat.
“Everyone’s just desperate,” she said. “I don’t want to be hit with a fine.
“Nobody knows what’s next.
“People are in a situation of impossibility. I don’t have money to lift my boat and if I did where would I put it.
“There’s nothing in place from MSQ. They could say we have an interim plan. But we’re getting zero on how to move forward.”
Sally sent a letter to MSQ in December asking for the human rights of the houseboat owners to be considered.
She said the action of MSQ assumed people could relocate their vessels without hardship, there were alternative storage or waterways, there was secure housing, and they could absorb the financial consequences.
“MSQ failed to consider vessels are primary residence, Noosa has no affordable housing, marina and storage infrastructure do not exist and relocation is physically and financially impossible,” she said in her letter.
She said MSQ had failed to consider alternatives put forward such as a permit system, residency caps, zoned anchoring or grandfathering arrangements.
Noosa MP Sandy Bolton said: “MSQ continued to advise us that anyone experiencing hardship should contact them with their specific circumstances whether financial or physical, including difficulties in vessel removal”.
“We encourage residents to do so as soon as possible, as well cc’ our office in and forward to us any response received,” she said.
Mike Clayton of Clayton’s Towing said they’d received numerous calls from houseboat owners to move their boats.
He said a lot of people wanted their boats taken to Tin Can Bay.
Other houseboats were being trucked to Noosa Resource Recovery Centre where dumping fees were paid and the boats squashed in a machine.
“It sounds like a waste,” Mike said. But in some cases it became apparent once the boats were removed from the water they had issues such as rot and needed substantial repairs, he said.
Mike said the costs of removal would be several thousand dollars, depending on the size on the houseboat and where it was headed.
