The crystal clear waters and picturesque headlands of Queensland’s coast may seem a long way from busy polling booths.

But the outcome of today’s election could impact some of the best surf breaks in the world.

Noosa, Snapper Rocks, Kirra, and Burleigh are high on the list of any surfer’s dream destinations.

They are also among the country’s most popular tourism hubs and are under constant threat from developers.

These beaches have the symbolic protection of a plaque and a handshake agreement to not build anything that would ruin the waves, but there is no guarantee future leaders will honour the deal. 

Path to surf reserve

Back in 2016, the 16 kilometres of coastline between Burleigh Heads and Snapper Rocks became a World Surfing Reserve, in response to a controversial proposal to build an offshore cruise ship terminal at Kirra that surfers argued would destroy the southern Gold Coast’s famed sand-bottom point breaks.

The 5km stretch from the Noosa River around the National Park headland to Sunshine Beach followed soon after.

Reserves have been established at 12 of the globe’s premier surfing locations, recognising their environmental, cultural and economic significance, and protecting the waves from development.

While the title of World Surfing Reserve is ceremonial, most jurisdictions have gone on to enshrine them in law — similar to protections provided to national and state parks.

Queensland has not.

Broken promises

The state government failed to deliver on a promise of legal protection for the Gold Coast and Noosa World Surfing Reserves.

Former Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk declared the legislation was a “top priority” during an international surfing conference on the Gold Coast in February 2020 and doubled down on the commitment during the election campaign that year.

The Labor government was re-elected but after four years of consultation, ministerial roundtables, discussion papers, draft policies, and an interdepartmental working group, there is still no legal protection for some of Australia’s most celebrated waves.

A new protection policy — to be implemented through an amendment to the coastal development and tidal works code under the Planning Act — was approved in July but was not signed off before the government entered caretaker mode for the election.

It would function as an additional layer of red tape for any development that could adversely affect wave formation.

A letter sent by Premier Steven Miles last month assured the Gold Coast World Surfing Reserve the policy would be finalised next term.

Labor is widely tipped to lose the election, but recent polling suggests the race has tightened.

Uncertain future

The chair of the Gold Coast World Surfing Reserve, Andrew McKinnon, has led the decade-long campaign for protection of the waves and remains optimistic a new government would honour the legislation.

“I would like to see this as a bipartisan thing; it shouldn’t be political,” he said.

“It is such a valuable asset and it’s not only the Gold Coast we are talking about here, it’s Noosa as well.”

The Gold Coast council has never been a fan, voting unanimously to voice its “strong opposition” to legislation of the World Surfing Reserve when it was announced, because of fears it could be used to block development on the beachfront.

While some councillors have since softened their stance, the city’s Mayor Tom Tate has not and said he hoped the legislation “gets shredded”.

“When we supported it, we honoured the title of world surfing reserve but there was not to be any future legislation whatsoever,” he said.

“My attitude is they should stick to what they agreed on.”

The LNP would not commit to supporting Labor’s policy in its current form, meaning legal protection of the surf breaks could be delayed or scrapped altogether.

“Labor badly let down surfers when they broke a promise to protect Burleigh’s iconic break,” the LNP’s Burleigh candidate and former councillor Hermann Vorster said.

“If elected this Saturday, I’ll work with the surfers and the council to see whether the proposed policy makes sense or needs a fresh look.”