Boat Registration

The Hon. P. CAICA (Colton) (15:07): My question is to the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure. Can the minister update the house on the uptake of the new six-month boat registration scheme?

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee—Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Minister Assisting the Minister for Planning, Minister Assisting the Minister for Housing and Urban Development) (15:07): Yes, a very good policy, as the Treasurer, the former minister for transport, stated in the lead-up to the last election. Can I thank the member for Colton for his question. He is keenly interested in this area—I am not so sure about the registration of boats; it's more the recreation on the boats, and fishing, I think, more particularly.

With summer drawing to a close, it is timely to update the house on the initiative to reduce registration fees for boaties who wanted to take up the option of only registering their boats for a six-month period, mostly over the summer period when most people use their boats. A new six-month boat registration option was introduced in October of last year, allowing boat owners and owners of personal watercraft to register their boats for only the half of the year when they were more likely to use them. Boat owners had the flexibility to do that when they thought they would use their boats the most, and I am encouraged to say that we have had a pretty good take-up of this initiative.

There are currently 59,000 registered boats in South Australia, including nearly 3,600 personal watercraft. We know that boating provides an enjoyable recreation activity for many South Australians and also contributes to local economic activity for communities along both coastal waters and inland waters, such as along the River Murray.

During the summer months, of those boaties whose registrations became due, or of those people who had purchased boats for the first time and were looking to register them for the first time, nearly 10,000—9,679 people—took up the option to register their boats for a six-month period. That's approximately one-quarter of those new or renewed boat registrations that fell due over the summer period. Of those 9,679 vessels, 1,795 were personal watercraft and, of course, the activity supports communities in places such as the River Murray.