‘Let diving customers take risk’

AN underwater filmmaker has warned Queensland’s dive industry not to “mollycoddle” its passengers too much in its efforts to reduce the death toll on the Great Barrier Reef.

Tour operators are in discussions with the State Government to introduce legislation before the peak tourist season commences to provide them with the power to prevent reef visitors who they deem as being “at risk” of medical injury, from entering the water.

Two Far Northern operators are being sued by US tourists, in separate incidents, after the passengers were barred from snorkelling and diving while travelling on liveaboard vessels.

Ten people have died on the Reef since last year, a majority being tourists visiting the Far North.

Cairns based documentarian Ben Cropp believed there was very little the industry could do to improve its already high standards.

He said passengers needed to take personal responsibility for their actions and not be “mollycoddled” by tour operators.

“For some people, it’s their dying wish, it’s on their bucket list, to see the Reef,” he said.

“(Operators) shouldn’t take that away, unless it is extremely dangerous.

“Who’s to be the judge of that? A tourism operator can’t be the judge – it would have to be a doctor.”

Queensland Law Society immediate past president Bill Potts said the proposed legislation would be in the industry’s and its passengers’ best interests.

“In some cases, the failure to take proper precautions, may void (the operators’) insurance policies,” he said.

“What you’re seeing is a sensible response to an insurance risk.

“The downside is, for many passengers, they may feel as though their privacy is being breached, or they are somehow being discriminated against.

“But in terms of law, the dive industry is entitled to refuse anybody who they think constitutes a significant risk of injuring or harming themselves, or coming to grief as a result of their own medical conditions.”

THE DOWNSIDE IS, FOR MANY PASSENGERS, THEY MAY FEEL AS THOUGH THEIR PRIVACY IS BEING BREACHED, OR THEY ARE SOMEHOW BEING DISCRIMINATED AGAINST. BUT IN TERMS OF LAW, THE DIVE INDUSTRY IS ENTITLED TO REFUSE ANYBODY WHO THEY THINK CONSTITUTES A SIGNIFICANT RISK... BILL POTTS