A relaxation of the government regulations around the chartering of superyachts continues to be high on priority list for Superyacht Australia. At the moment, Treasury is reviewing the Superyacht Australia submission.

CEO, MaryAnne Edwards stated, “This is great news. Australia needs to remove this impediment to the growth of the superyacht sector and the government must realise that growth in jobs and revenue will be significant as a result of this.”

Superyacht Australia see the current regulations as a barrier to developing the superyacht industry in Australia and the industry is losing ground to other countries who have now addressed this issue.  It is Superyacht Australia’s estimation that if the policies were changed they would see a doubling of the number of superyachts coming to Australia within 2 years and subsequently a doubling of the economic benefit and return for the country. Superyacht Australia also sees removal of this barrier acting as a green light to more investment in the industry.

In an environment where Australian exporters are hurting due to the high cost of manufacturing and the high Australia dollar, where global demand is down and where our tourism sector is facing tough competition, it seems the perfect timing for the government to act on this issue. When one considers there are over 5000 superyachts in the world and currently Australia is seeing less than 2 percent of these, the opportunity to grow the superyacht industry is huge.

The Australian government only needs to look at the Fiji and Tahiti examples and the significant revenue and profile these countries are receiving as a result of their new charter regulations.

MaryAnne Edwards stated, “We need to make it simple for yachts to come and charter in Australia. Currently yachts wishing to charter must fully import the vessel and pay any duty and GST applicable. Given the value of a superyacht and the costs of this taxation versus what they would receive in charter revenue this equation simply does not stack up.

However, if the regulations were relaxed more yachts would come here and the government would benefit hugely from the GST payable on charters and purchases. This is a number one priority on our work program and we have another meeting scheduled with Treasury to provide an update on the results of other Asia Pacific countries relaxing their regulations. We will continue pursuing this issue until we get an outcome.”