Boaties Set Sail For Nz To Avoid Aussie Customs

Sun Herald

Sunday May 4, 2008

Kate Dennehy

Strict boating laws might be costing Queensland a fortune, writes Kate Dennehy.

When US retiree Jim Manzari sailed his small yacht into a Bundaberg marina in September 2006, little did he realise he would be significantly poorer by the time he left.

After a legal battle with the Australian Customs Service, Mr Manzari, in his 60s, was convicted on two counts: one for not giving authorities enough notice of the arrival of his boat and the other for not giving enough notice of the arrival of his crew. The crew was his wife, Dorothy, also in her 60s, of Switzerland. The Manzaris appealed against the conviction, and lost. They were ordered to pay $4000 and court costs of $15,000. In the end, after paying for a legal team, Mr Manzari's unhappy stay in Australia cost him more than $75,000.

Not surprisingly the Manzaris - who spoke last week from aboard their boat somewhere in the North Pacific - plan never to visit Australia again. Now it appears that their story, and many others like it, are keeping plenty of other international sailors away, a trend that is potentially costing Queensland's economy hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.

Every year hundreds of seagoers on yachts and other private vessels cruising around the South Pacific look for a safe haven for about six months to sit out the dangerous cyclone season. In the past, Queensland was at the top of the list of possible destinations, with the owners - mainly retired couples - keen to play tourist after leaving their boats at marinas here.

That popularity has waned following several incidents in which Customs officers have allegedly intimidated the boat owners when they arrive here to check in. Complaints range from general rudeness to being treating like hard-core criminals for minor and unintentional misdemeanours.

The news has spread rapidly through the close-knit international boating community. Customs figures show that, on average, 700 private yachts, motor cruisers and catamarans arrive in Australia each year, with estimates that more than half come through Queensland. But the latest arrival figures show that between March 2007 and February this year only 650 boats docked in Australia, 8 per cent below the average. The Coastal Passage editor Bob Norson, believes the figures will only get worse. He said his boating newspaper was inundated with letters from angry people, appalled at their treatment by Customs.

"Word has spread far and wide that Australia is a place to avoid because of heavy-handed officials enforcing arcane laws designed for commercial shipping, not mum and dad yachties," he said.

The cost to Queensland is expected to be significant. A typical boat owner will spend as much as $25,000 while sitting out the cyclone season in Australia.

Those who run foul of the law can expect to pay a lot more. Under a law introduced in 2005 boats entering Australia must give Customs at least four days' notice by fax, telephone or email. Customs has prosecuted seven overseas boaties in the past two years for the same offence as the Manzaris'.

Boaties say that, without sophisticated communications devices aboard, it is difficult to accurately predict arrival times especially when sea conditions were rough and if they had equipment problems. A trip from Vanuatu, for example, could take from one to three weeks. If the conditions are too bad, the skipper could change route for safety reasons and end up entering Queensland at Bundaberg, instead of Cairns as planned.

Elderly Dutch couple Bram and Magda Goedhart arrived at the Port of Brisbane after a rough 13-day voyage from New Zealand in 2006. Mr Goedhart, who doesn't speak much English, said he had mistakenly used out-dated information from a respected world cruising guide. He thought he had to give only three hours' notice of arrival, but gave 12 hours' notice using his line-of-sight VHF radio. He too was charged with two offences, one for the boat and one for his wife. Worse, he said, Customs treated him like a serious criminal, reading him his rights as soon as he docked. The couple hired a barrister, but the court found Mr Goedhart guilty.

Other boaties have also complained of Customs of using a heavy hand, including using five officials and a sniffer-dog, fibre optic cameras to inspect the inside of water tanks and demanding saliva swabs for drug tests.

A marina operator who did not want to be named said the situation was "bureaucracy gone mad".

"The general consensus is that the bureaucrats don't encourage private boat owners to come here, even though they end up spending five times as much as other tourists," he said. "It's like they're desperate to keep their jobs and so are proactive in creating problems instead of solving them."

Customs said the pre-arrival information was essential to help protect Australia's borders from illegal activity.

"In the current security environment Customs has an important role to play in checking all vessels arriving from overseas," Brian Hurrell, Customs' Enforcement Operations manager, said.

He said despite the tough laws, there was a degree of flexibility in the system, with boaties allowed to use a third party to pass on the required information if they, themselves, did not have the necessary equipment.

But some boaties claim they had contacted Customs in Canberra in time, but the messages hadn't been forwarded to Queensland officials.

A European sailor who did not want to be named while still in Australia said Sunshine Coast marinas would normally be full of overseas boats over the cyclone season, but this year there had only been a few visiting yachts.

"Yachties talk on their HF radios about the strict regulations here and cruisers are very wary about coming here. A lot go to New Zealand instead."

Across the Tasman boaties are required to give only two days' notice of arrival and, even then, those who use VHF radios to contact authorities on the same day they arrive are warned, not charged.

Australian cruising author Alan Lucas said: "Our reputation really stinks. The cruising grapevine spreads all over the world and I hear a lot of people saying they just won't come here. The terrorist paranoia is driving Customs even harder, but the number of boardings and the rudeness is just unacceptable."

Customs spokesman Matthew Wardell said Customs enforced reporting obligations equally on all commercial and private vessels.

"To suggest we pick on small boats is wrong," he said. "Customs welcomes every visitor to Australia, particularly yachties. All we ask is that you let us know you're coming at least 96 hours before you arrive." Most yachts complied, he said.

© 2008 Sun Herald

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