Friday, 5 May, 2023
ONE
12602409-FC18-23
Number
of 420 Coast Agencies Back on duty
Treats for Motherâs Day
Noosa Lions turn 50
24-page liftout Property Guide
PAGE 5
PAGES 14-19
PAGE 35
INSIDE
PR OP ER TY
Roadside delivery By Margie Maccoll Delivering her baby in the middle of the highway at night in the pouring rain wasnât what Jessica Amato-Ali had in mind for the birth of her first child but luckily her mum, Noosa Todayâs Simone Bell, was there to catch her when Nora Grace came into the world. âIt was pretty intense while it was happening,â Jess said of giving birth on the side of the road on the way to hospital. âItâs one of those things you think; I wouldnât do that again. We were pleased it all went well. A lot of things could have gone wrong.â Nora Grace was born just after 8pm on Thursday 27 April. Jess, her husband Kerese and Simone werenât expecting the birth to be so quick. Jess had visited the midwife that morning to be told IVF babies like hers generally donât come naturally and contractions could last 36 hours but if they got intense to go to the hospital. But Nora Grace had other plans. Continued page 6 Simone Bell with Jessica and Kerese AmatoAli and baby Nora Grace. Picture: ROB MACCOLL
No leg rope law By Phil Jarratt
12497020-DL22-21
Noosa is very unlikely to follow the lead of Byron Bay in introducing a leg rope (or surf leash) mandate with hefty fines for offenders in response to recent serious accidents involving loose boards in the surf. Acting Noosa Council chief executive officer Larry Sengstock told Noosa Today: âNoosa Council has not considered going down the path that Byron Bay Council has undertaken, and there has been no official discussion on the issue that I am aware of. Of course, we expect there will be mixed views within the surfing fraternity. âCurrently our approach is that we support an education process through the erection of signage outlining the surf codes and rules, along with other safety measures, while working with the Noosa World Surfing Reserve stewardship council, Surf Life Saving Queensland and various other stakeholders.â
On 27 April Byron Shire became the first council in Australia to impose a leg rope law when it voted unanimously in favour of a motion put by Councillor Cate Coorey, citing âa long-held wish of residents, including the majority of the surfing fraternity, especially on our most crowded surf breaksâ, and despite having received legal advice that such a law would be extremely difficult to police and enforce. Ralph James, legal counsel for Byron Shire Council, said: âCouncil would need to show both that a surfer wasnât wearing a leg rope in the water and that the accused reasonably passed near enough to a notice prior to entering the water that they could be said to have acted contrary to it. It is not clear how council enforcement officers could reasonably gather evidence of these elements.â The new mandate carries an on the spot fine of $75 and up to $1100 if the matter goes to court. As it does in Noosa and other densely-populated surfing destinations, the leg rope
issue has reared its head in Byron often over the past decade, but two events in recent times have sent public outrage next level. In 2019 local paper the Byron Echo published a full page advertisement for local legal firm Somersville Laundry Lomax posing the question, âHave you been injured by a surfer whose board was not restrained by a leg rope?â The firm claimed to have found precedents that would make civil damages cases easier to win, but apart from being accused of opportunism, SLL doesnât seem to have won damages for any surf-related clients. In February this year the leg rope issue hit the headlines again when Byron surfer Matt Cassidy had his bicep severed by an out of control surfboard at Wategos Beach. It was a serious injury and Cassidy was a highly competent surfer who was in control of his own board at the time, according to witnesses. What is less clear is whether the loose board that did the damage was unleashed by choice or whether
the leg rope had snapped. But now the incident is written into history as the catalyst for the Byron leggie law. In January 2022 there was similar confusion over whether a leg rope was in use when Noosa surfer Derek Symons required 17 staples in the back of his head after being run over by a surfboard at Noosa National Park. The 42-year-old was also a competent surfer who knew the break well, and since recovering he has been using his experience to help promote safer surfing practices. It was ironic that Derekâs serious injury came just weeks after the Noosa Council roundtable on surf safety, run in conjunction with the Noosa World Surfing Reserve, completed year-long deliberation on the best ways to mitigate increasing safety issues at our surf breaks due to over-crowding since Covid and higher numbers of novices taking to the water with no knowledge of basic safety and etiquette procedures. Continued page 4