Foreshore Damage Leaves Council Crew Heartbroken Ahead of Festival

Damages done to Airlie Beach foreshore grass. Photo sourced: Whitsunday Regional Council  

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Just days before thousands of people descended on Airlie Beach for Between the Tides, Whitsunday Regional Council's Parks and Gardens team was forced to face the damages caused by E-scooters performing skids across the Airlie Foreshore.

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The damage comes after the team spent the previous two weeks preparing the popular precinct for the Queensland Music Trails event, refreshing garden beds, laying mulch and carefully maintaining the turf to ensure the area was ready to welcome locals and visitors.

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Whitsunday Regional Council Mayor Ry Collins said it was incredibly disappointing to see one of the region's most valued public spaces damaged, particularly after the effort invested by Council staff.

"To see that hard work damaged in a matter of minutes was heartbreaking for the people who take so much pride in maintaining these community spaces,” Mayor Collins said.

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Council's Parks and Gardens team spent the following two days repairing the damaged turf so the foreshore would once again be ready ahead of the weekend's festivities.

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Mayor Collins said every hour spent repairing avoidable damage came at the expense of other maintenance work across the Whitsundays.

"Our parks and public spaces belong to everyone, and they deserve to be treated with respect," he said.

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"Every hour our crews spent repairing this unnecessary damage was time they could have been improving other parks and open spaces across the Whitsundays."

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The incident has sparked some criticism online, with people commenting things like “Easy, ban the bloody scooter…Scourge of the planet,”, as well as others asking for potential places for them to ride to avoid this.

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The debate comes as Queensland's new e-mobility laws came into effect this month, introducing stricter rules for e-scooter and e-bike riders to instill more road-safe responsibility.  

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Among the changes are a 12km/h speed limit on footpaths, increased fines for offences including careless riding, and new licensing requirements that will begin rolling out from August 31. The reforms follow a statewide review into e-mobility safety earlier this year.  

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Council is asking anyone who witnessed the incident or has information that could help identify those responsible to contact either Whitsunday Regional Council or Queensland Police.

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