SOME of the $8m collected from recreational fishers should be spent on improving Beachport boating facilities according to the Liberal Candidate for MacKillop Nick McBride.
He has criticised the Weatherill Labor Government for failing to ensure the sum of money currently sitting in the SA Boating Facilities Fund was being spent to upgrade boating facilities, to support recreational fishers and tourism in the South East.
The State Liberals have already announced a policy to unlock the money in this fund to encourage more investment in boating facilities.
Mr McBride said a Marshall Liberal Government will reduce the co-contribution required by councils and local communities to a maximum of 20pc of the total cost of the project, rather than the current maximum of 50pc.
“A Marshall Liberal Government will improve access to the boating facilities fund for local communities to ensure we have more boating infrastructure upgrades,” Mr McBride said.
“The South East has a number of boat ramps that need to be upgraded, including the Kingston, Cape Jaffa, Robe Marina and Beachport boating facilities.
“We want to ensure the boating levy paid by South Australians is used for its intended purpose and is actually spent on upgrading boat ramps and other facilities.
“The recreational fishing and tourism sectors are incredibly important to our local communities.
“That’s why we should encourage investment in infrastructure that will help drive growth in both these sectors.
“The South East is a beautiful part of our state and we know that more tourism in the region means more dollars coming into the community which could help create much needed jobs.”
“The Weatherill Government has left millions of taxpayers’ dollars sitting idle in this fund instead of investing in much needed boating infrastructure upgrades.
“It’s unacceptable that taxpayers’ money is sitting in Weatherill Government coffers instead of being invested back into the community.”
