Mr J. BULL (Sunbury) — I am very pleased to have the opportunity to speak in favour of the Ports and Marine Legislation Amendment Bill 2017. I should also declare that I hold a marine licence with a personal watercraft endorsement and that I thoroughly enjoy my time on the water, both in the boat and on a jet ski. I will talk about some of those personal experiences a little later in my contribution.

Mr Pearson interjected.

Mr J. BULL — I certainly know that the member for Essendon enjoys his time on the water as well. The opposition speaker, the member for Croydon, spoke about the fact that in his view the vast majority of people do the right thing on the water, and I certainly agree with that. Most people that I see follow the rules, have the required safety gear on board and have their vessels regularly serviced, and I certainly believe this is the result of good governance, good regulation and certainly good education around the marine safety area. However, there are a number of concerns in the current regulations, and I will go to those shortly.

This is an important bill, and overall it has five key objectives, those being to facilitate improvements in safety by addressing gaps in the scope and coverage of safety duties under the Marine Safety Act 2010; to enable more efficient and effective management of state waters by amending waterway rule-making powers and providing powers to local ports and waterway managers to deal with abandoned vessels; to — and this one I will come to at length later on in my contribution — reduce public safety risks by making specific changes to licensing requirements for pilots and masters of recreational vessels aged 12 to 16 years of age; to support more effective cross-portfolio enforcement and facilitate cost savings by removing unnecessary limitations on the disclosure of marine licensing and registration information to enforcement authorities; and, finally, to reduce red tape to enable cost savings to be achieved by making minor and technical amendments.

I want to focus the majority of my contribution this evening on the changes made to jet ski laws, and these are certainly important changes. There is no doubt, as I mentioned earlier, that Victorians love their water. Whether it be time on Port Phillip Bay, time in the wonderful lakes right across regional and rural Victoria or time on rivers like the Murray, we see a great deal of water-based activity. We are certainly lucky to have those areas to go to and enjoy time with family and friends, especially in the summer months. Like many Victorians, I was fortunate enough to grow up with boats, and some of my best childhood memories are from being on the water. Whether it is skiing, fishing, swimming or snorkelling, these are some of the best ways to spend a day.

What I am certainly fortunate enough to have grown up with, though, was the message around safety on our waterways. Tragically we see far too many lives lost on the water, whether they are drownings, boat accidents or, more recently, accidents involving jet skis. These have been all too common. Our water police, coastguard, fisheries, lifeguards and supporting agencies do a wonderful job in working with the community to keep people safe and to enhance education around water safety. I do want to put on record my support and appreciation for these agencies, the hard work that they do and the important role that they play each and every day right across the state.

In recent years, though, we have seen significant investment in safety and education and the delineation of boating zones in Port Phillip Bay. Throughout the state these help to manage and address those safety risks associated with the interaction between vessels and swimmers, and at all times we should really be trying to keep vessels and swimmers apart and make sure that those regulations are followed strictly. Despite these investments, though, we continue to see, certainly with personal watercraft, with jet skis, a number of very concerning incidents, often involving very serious injuries. The messages around jet ski use do quite often, I believe, get through, but we know that there is a small group that unfortunately are not following the rules.

The Andrews Labor government recognises that action must be taken to address unsafe conduct and is developing new compliance, monitoring and enforcement strategies to target those who continue to operate illegally, threatening of course their own safety and the safety of others.

That is why this bill this evening includes a related measure aimed at reducing injuries to minors and avoiding the loss of life. As I have mentioned, minors between the ages of 12 and 16 years may currently apply for and obtain a restricted marine licence, which is the type of licence that I had. However, restrictions that are imposed on those 12 to 16-year-olds mean that they must not operate at speeds greater than 10 knots, operate between sunset and sunrise or tow persons or other vessels. So skiers or the like cannot be put behind a jet ski.

As a minor, as I mentioned, I personally held this type of licence. It is important to recognise that education from an early age around boats and around any vessels on the water is important. If we are able to encourage young people to get involved in marine activities, as they go on and reach adulthood they will be conditioned to learning about those safety regulations, and these are important things.

However, at this point in time, we know that minors who hold restricted licences are able to have those endorsed so that they can operate a jet ski, as I mentioned. That is shown on your licence card with a personal watercraft endorsement. People using jet skis generally do so with the intention of operating at speeds significantly more than 10 knots, and this is the crux of this issue. Unsupervised use of jet skis by minors is therefore seen by many as inconsistent with the purpose of restricted licences.

I know that a number of members will have spent time on the water, either seeing a jet ski or having ridden one themselves. They are very powerful, very fast vessels that have a great rate of acceleration and which can be an incredibly powerful and dangerous vessel if used incorrectly. They are a whole heap of fun — 300 horsepower plus. They can turn incredibly sharply, on a dime. You can only imagine a minor, someone 12 to 16 years old who gets behind one of these vessels. It is not putting the foot down; it is squeezing the clutch, if you like, and off the jet ski goes, so you have to be incredibly careful especially around piers and ports and most importantly around other people swimming in the water.

This bill prohibits minors from having their licences endorsed, so they are not able to operate a jet ski without supervision, a move that I wholeheartedly support. Supervised operation of jet skis by minors is still possible of course, so there will continue to be avenues available to learn responsible jet ski operation, which is the education element I mentioned before. However, the government believes that a clear signal needs to be sent to parents and guardians that minors who are not adults cannot be held accountable to the same extent and are not permitted to operate jet skis without supervision. So it is the supervision element within the change that is absolutely critical. This is expected to decrease injury rates and of course potentially save lives. In effect this bill requires that there is adult supervision at all times. This is expected to reduce those injury rates that I just mentioned, which is something that I am very supportive of.

The bill covers a number of other areas, which I mentioned earlier in my contribution. The Marine Safety Act 2010 imposes duties on a range of different parties to identify risks and implement measures that minimise safety risks so far as practicable. The bill addresses gaps in safety duties and safety requirements that have been identified as a consequence of incidents on state waters in recent years. The bill applies safety duties to managers of events held wholly or partly on state waters. This will ensure that Transport Safety Victoria has the capacity to act to ensure risks are minimised. That was something in the bill briefing that was of particular interest to me, fundamentally around the responsibility in relation to events and how we manage as a state and as a government who is responsible for those events that happen on the water, how many people are attending and what safety practices have been put in place to ensure that the event as a whole can run smoothly and soundly.

The bill, as I have mentioned, covers a number of different areas. I am particularly supportive of the changes to regulations around jet skis. Victorians love their time on the water, whether it be fishing, swimming, snorkelling, diving or skiing. These are important events. The Andrews Labor government is committed to ensuring that all Victorians have the chance to have fun on the water in a safe, responsible and sustainable way, and I commend the bill to the house.