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BRISBANE - Queensland's transport minister has defended the state's boating laws but admitted tougher licensing restrictions may be needed.
Following a tragic collision on Saturday in Brisbane's Moreton Bay which claimed four lives, the state's boating laws have come under scrutiny.
News Limited's The Courier-Mail newspaper today claimed rogue operators were awarding licences without adequately assessing their competence.
However, Transport Minister Paul Lucas defended the laws which he said had the toughest restrictions in Australia.
"In New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia you just have to do a written test, you don't even have to go anywhere near the water," he told ABC Radio today.
"In Queensland we have a mandatory on-water system ... what the system requires you to do is to do about six hours of theory and on the water experience with a whole degree of competencies on which you might be assessed."
But Mr Lucas said the government was considering further strengthening of licensing laws after the boating industry's representative body Marine Queensland voiced its concern.
The industry is advocating a tiered licensing system for recreational licences, which allows boat owners to move from a tinny to a high powered vessel several metres in length without additional training.
"We've worked to have the toughest system in Australia but if we need to make it tougher in the light of any experience, we will do that," Mr Lucas said.
"At the present time if you have a recreational boat drivers licence, then that operates for all of them.
"One of the things we are looking at, given there has been a significant increase in the number of larger vessels, (is) whether we should have further licensing requirements for them."
- AAP
