A big crackdown on illegal camping in Noosa on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast has upset many travellers, with some claiming they are being treated ‘like criminals’.
Noosa Shire Council has handed out 352 fines this financial year, with the maximum penalty for staying overnight in a vehicle, tent or caravan in an unauthorised area being up to $2,660.
After reporting on the issue of illegal camping recently, the Sunshine Coast News says there have been a chorus of unhappy people sharing their stories about being caught up in the crackdown.
Among them are pensioners Eddie Argall and wife Gail who say they were hit with a $275 fine by council officers ‘banging on our door’ at 4am when their motorhome was parked on a residential street in Tewantin.
Mr Argall told the Sunshine Coast News that the ‘aggressive’ officers refused to hear their excuse and his attempts to have the fine waived — even providing a medical letter — were rejected.
He said it appeared as though council officers were ‘on the warpath’ and ‘tarring everyone with the same brush’ when it came to so-called illegal camping.
He said that Gail suffers from a rare heart condition that requires the couple to travel from north Queensland for medical appointments on the Coast.
But, during a busy holiday period when Mrs Argall was due to see the specialist, they could not find accommodation at caravan parks or showgrounds which were booked out. Instead, they found the Noosa Marina, Tewantin, and parked down the road by the river.
The Sunshine Coast News reports that the couple paid for dinner at the local restaurant, bought something from a shop and returned to their fully self-contained motorhome.
“My wife was not well after the long walk and had to rest and fell asleep, this happens regularly,” Mr Argall said, explaining she has pace maker and defibrillator implants and takes 24 pills a day … I was unable to drive while she was sleeping and I too fell asleep.
Mr Argall says that the couple were woken at 4am by heavy banging on the door.
“We thought we were being broken into to be faced by two very aggressive council officials who were not prepared to listen or understand our situation,” he said. “We were issued with an on-the-spot fine of $275.”
Mr Argall submitted an appeal on medical grounds, and backed it up with a letter from a cardiac specialist, but that request was ultimately refused.
Council said it “regulates illegal camping to manage the environmental, residential and health issues that it causes”.
Noosa Shire Council’s community services director Kerri Contini told the Sunshine Coast News that council was always sympathetic in cases such as Mr Argall’s.
“After a full review of all of the information provided, including medical documents, this case did not meet the criteria for exemption on medical emergency grounds,” she said in a statement. “Mr Argall also confirmed he did not have a booking for the motorhome for two nights while visiting the area, including the night the illegal camping infringement relates to.”
Ms Contini said a review of body camera footage of the interaction showed council officers had been ‘courteous and professional at all times’.
However, Mr Argall says he and his wife still feel extremely aggrieved.
“We’re pensioners and we’re just really gutted with the attitude of Noosa Council,” he said. “Never again shall we go to Noosa and be treated like criminals.”
Noosa council are overzealous parasites
Totally disagree, if you want to play games with the council laws suffer the consequences
The laws where I live allow vans sleeping overnight yet people don’t agree so can we fine the people that disagree
What is the difference between resting and camping. Long distance truckers rest in their trucks, why can’t I rest in my campervan.
Truck drivers do not pull up in the residential streets. They utilise the provided places for the purpose
So where are the “rest areas” for caravanners? Apparently not allowed at truck rest areas, nor roadside “P” in some locations.
Needs adressing.
Errr, that wasn’t a truck
You know the rules stick to them and there won’t be issues.
I totally empathise with you and your wifes medical condition. But please be aware, I dint think you have the right to park inside a town that clearly doesnt allow this. Im sure you could have found alternative overnite rest spots.
No they shouldn’t be travelling if they have a medical condition plus they are ageing being grey nomads is not a great idea it’s technically homelessness definition correct me if I’m wrong if just on holiday that’s ok
Hmmmm, obviously there wasn’t a “last shower” in Noosa.
If some one dies because you can’t get rest then all this should be kept as evidence that people are being made to move on and not allowed to have a 8 hour rest period. There for the council is responsible under care and due diligence and preforming un safe practices and putting lives at risk
There is a donation camp not far away. No excuse
Most people can’t read simple signs that states no camping, it’s a problem everywhere
Chris those signs are literaly everywhere. Which doesn’t leave many options and the very minute amount of options remaining are usually full.
Often those near towns are seeking safety and security, as I have many stories of camping out of sight and been attacked and even sexually abused by a naked man on drugs.
Ask yourself” if this was my mother/father/son or daughter, what would I want the council to do?”
Please elaborate on all of these stories you refer to, especially the sexual abuse, I have traveled this country for over 40 years and have never encountered your claims . Police evidence would help
It’s called a caravan patk
Hmmm i have been on the road driving for 16 hours perhaps i will spend another 16 hours driving from place to place checking signs.
Derpie dirrrr
Happened to us years back at Geralton although the Council official wss at 07.00. No fine. The Ranger at Kalbarri however wasvan out and out ahole.
Totally agree with your comment about the ranger in Kalbarri.
No I have never been woken, but a warning notice was placed on the windscreen between midnight and 6am on Rainbow Beach,Qld
Hey, how about drive another couple of Kim’s up the road to Inskip Point ?
? Inskip. Over 100 km north
What a beautifull location spoiled by the loacals who apparrantly dont want any touring people in their surrounds. we were there in 2004 and we got this info from a Melbourne caravaner who, like us , had been treated like we should piss off. Havnt been back since, & no intention to do so.
Everyone has an excuse. Rules don’t apply to me.
What don’t you understand about the term ILLEGAL CAMPING? Don’t risk it. Your actions will have consequences, not just for you, but for everyone.
What are the so called consequences you mention
I will try to pit this simply mate, the more we try to push the rules with camping, sleeping, resting, etc in town boundaries with councils that have set the Rules, the worse it will get for us that obide by the particular town rules & limits.
Hey Gypsy, if you are the right Inskip/Tassie Gypsy, you’ll know what i mean by my Gypsy/Mornington would luv to see you again. Respond if you are puleeease
With many of us being forced into vans, caravans, and even tents, the last thing we need on top of homelessness is fines and to be treated like this!
We lost our house due to the owner selling it, forced into our van with all our belongings in just three weeks.
We don’t have many options of where to stay and being close to people gives us protection and security. We shop at the local businesses, we contribute where we can, we reuse all bags and boxes, we are very clean, but still nothing!
Local residents tar everyone with the same brush and reporters like Shirley (on staff) give a biased opinion creating even more chaos for homeless.
There is no option of explaining to the officers that you reside in your van, they just issue a fine that takes two days of working to pay it off.
Camp grounds won’t let permanents in anymore and are becoming increasingly difficult to find.
The treatment of this couple is just one of hundreds even thousands.
With the cost of living on the rise, the shortage of employment, and houses increasingly difficult to rent, ask yourself,” what would I say if this was my child/parent/grandparent/ uncle or Aunty?”
“Would I want them to be fined as well?”
To me it’s simple, do not enter these shitty council areas that don’t care if you spend your money in their space or not. Travel inland where councils/ shires appreciate you coming into their area and spending your money, then do day day trips out from those areas. But make sure you buy your lunch or groceries from the inland area to take to your day trip destination. Scenic Rim Council is one of those Councils/ Shires that goes out of its way to bring you into their area.
I think this is a great comment. Most hinterland towns are more than happy to have visitors and welcome travelleras with open arms
This is a valid point, but the couple fined were there at Noosa for a specialist’s appointment. In hindsight they should have tried to book a place in a van park as soon as they received the appointment date. As we do not know all the details of this we cannot judge, can we folks.
I would think they would have to prove there was actually a person inside the van before issuing a fine. Hence the banging on the door. Any registered vehicle has the right to be parked legally on the Roadside.
If it says NO Camping, it means NO Camping. Not hard to understand. If you can’t understand, cop the fine & stop whinging.
You must have too much money, unlike most who are trying to stretch their budget as far as possible.
Pretty simple understandings Brad. Couldnt agree more.
Criminals? Nah, just milking the communities for all their worth. You’d be annoyed as well if someone set up house in front of your home. And to those who don’t leave the place filthy just settle petal! it’s the 10% who do that are the grubby snots.
Hey Joe, Ive been Caravanning since 2000 and I couldnt have put this any clearer than you, well done mate. Hope to preserve our Aussie freedoms for a while yet!!!
Next time don’t answer the door if they can’t prove your in there they can’t fine you your vehicle is registered it can park on any road
Very Good point Gazz, you can park all your ugly trailers and alike on the road in front of your neighbours house & piss them off no end, but as long as it is registered it legall. A camper parks there for say one night or 2 and is instantly fined. I totally get it mate.I would much rather a camper in front of my place for a day or so, instead of an ugly tandem trailer for months that restricts the traffic flow!!
Our 2 small dogs would give us away.
I have often pulled off on to small country roads if l have become too tired to safely continue. But few years ago l woke to sound of loud motor and there was Farmer towing equipment that was as wide as whole road. So l turned around & left. Since then if late/middle of night & tired l have pulled into car parks of Bunnings, Woolworths etc car parks at furthest spot from store entry. Never had a problem or visit from anyone early in morning and police can’t move you on or fine you as private property, not public areas controlled by councils. Often have been 1st customer of day and any comments on van or caravan were just small talk with staff.
In America it is common place to park in shopping centre carparks at night as long as you’re self contained.
Great idea, Aus should adopt the same.
My husband and I had a situation in Beenleigh. We needed to park illegally for one night. Rather than take the risk of a fine we rang the Shire who put us onto the Ranger. He took our rego so that no fine was issued. Can’t speak more highly of the Shires staff we spoke to and the ranger.
Ignore the signs, do nothing then chance a fine.
3 separate issues covered by one definition and a fine
There is a big difference between illegal camping, homelessness and a tired driver reviver sleep.
Fine those holiday makers who are to cheap to book into a campsite (if there is one), but the rest is not so simple.
I don’t have the answers and I wouldn’t want messy, noisy, aggressive people camping outside on my footpath: But, Australia is in the grips of housing crisis and a lot of us are one step away from homelessness. For example if my hubby and I split up and our assets were devided, we would both be homeless and there are very few houses to rent in our area and the few there are, are more than the old age pension. ‘There but for the grace of God go I’
Like I said I don’t have the answers, but kindness from all parties wouldn’t hurt.
I live in the area that this event occured – many, many campervans and motorhomes use this location on the Noosa River to camp illegially overnight and the locals are not happy. There are other places to park that are never booked out – nearby Eumundi Markets carpark etc. It would seem that they were simply caught out and with proper planning could have found somewhere else that is not located in a “river front” location – an obvious target for the Council Officers.
Eumundi Market carpark has been permanently closed for at least a year. A shame. And the other paid camp at Cooroy was recently closed during all the bad weather. It is now reopened and very convenient. $12 a night with dump point, bins and Unity Water station for fresh water. It cost us a dollar to fill our 120 litre tank. No complaining here and just wish more regional councils would supply these facilities.
NO council has the right to bully people. It’s not a crime to park up. As long as it’s one night and your not stopping there for days on end. If you pay the fine then your are admitting you have broken the law. DO NOT PAY on the spot fines. Take it to court. The local councils have NO LEGAL RIGHT to dish out fines.
Sorry, but you are completely wrong. Shires have by-laws and as long as they satisfy all the points-of-proof, they are within in their legal right to issue a fine.
Many rangers are totally untrained in law and will issue a fine without all the required evidence. That’s when we get those rogues who are considered aggressive and over the top.
I always believed the the ‘defendant’, if not residing in the area, had the right to switch courts locations to where they resided, it used to be that way years ago.
I suppose if your homeless, you don’t have an address.
I am fortunate that I have 2 homes in different states, and fairly well off, but I have sympathy for the homeless. Australia, like the rest of the World is under real financial stress and homelessness and poverty is a rising major problem. Governments of all descriptions need to take urgent action and heavily review this situation, at the very least we need to have parking areas set aside for these people to at least temporarily use, even if on the outskirts of town, or industrial areas. The World needs more empathy and consideration for the not so lucky, they are in record numbers and increasing!
All I will say, is respectifully, please check on the Local Council bylaws in your particular area of concern, as they have total durasdiction in that area, despite what you may think should be the case.PS: Legal wins all the time!!!!The big difference here is the definition between a parked vehicle with no occupants versers a parked vehicle which has campers inside.
My sister in n- law and her husband stay with us at Dingo Beach leaving their caravan and car parked across the road of our home . In the morning they found a fine on their windscreen. They went to the council and signed an affidavits saying they weren’t staying in the caravan. The council dismissed the fine. I see security all the time knocking on windows. I know that if they left everyone camp on the beachfront wouldn’t be good but surely they would understand if this was your predicament.
All councils are stepping up their revenue raising collection services as they battle to balance their accounts. Travellers are being targeted as they are often out of the state or too far away from the courts to challenge the fine by the time they receive it. These underhanded
unscrupulous councils often provide the minimum parking facilities for travellers and then capitalise on the inability of the traveller to obtain a recognised bay
Similar thing happened to us in Anglesea Vic. We had been travelling for many hours and arrived in Anglesea about 2am in the morning. We saw a car park with a sign for caravans only. We pulled up there and thought we’d have a couple of hours rest before moving on. A couple of hours later we had a loud bang on the door. A council employee told us to move on now and if we were tired we should’ve gone to a Caravan Park (like at 2am in the morning) or get out of town limits and park on the side of the road. So much for road safety! We left and continued on. I VOWED AND DECLARED THAT I WILL NEVER SPEND ANY MONEY IN THAT SHITHOLE TOWN AS LONG AS I LIVE!
Bad planning if you were driving with a caravan till 2am and I think quite dangerous.
In so far as the couple who were fined are concerned, I am always amazed how people feel they are hard done by when rules are broken or ignored. Surely once you have booked a distant medical appointment you make the necessary travel and accommodation plans to suit.
What a load of rot…..read between the lines here. They did wrong, copped a fine and now are whinging. Go away and do the right thing in future
I see no mention by the pensioner who was fined about street signs saying no overnite camping , did he not see signs walking back from their dinner?. Obiviously being a pensioner he feels we all owe him something like ignore signage and not have to pay fines.
Hey Garry, The rules of the road says that you would never travel at that HR IN THE MORNING!!!
THAT WOULD INITIATE all sorts of Animal type risks not to mention a lack of suitable overnight camping availability. Im with you mate, do the time, pay the fine!!
Everyone knows the rules by now . Camping outside designated campground/ showgrounds or caravan parks is illegal . We are pensioners and pay to stay in caravan parks / showgrounds donation campgrounds etc.
First they throw you out of the house, then they throw you into the street, then they throw you off the street – where exactly do you end. The number of people whose permanent homes are these caravans due to financial crisis – often by helping other members of the family – is growing. They are not considered homeless but technically they are. Grey nomads need a post office box and some sort of permanent side to protect themselves. You can’t even stay with your relatives more than two weeks before you have to move on now. Medical appointments can take months to arrive and you often need to attend coastal cities for all the specialists. Maybe it should be part of Medicare insurance to cover you for the cost of accommodations in these expensive cities when you have to go down from inland for the appointments.
It’s 1 hour in Point Cook Vic before you have to move the van comes under the motor transport act as they are more than 2 tonne we had to move ours
The offence of “staying overnight” requires two points-of-proof.
1. A person and 2. Staying overnight. Don’t answer the door and they can’t prove either.
On another note. If you are a traditional owner and want to camp every night in a park inside the city of Adelaide, then you are free to do so. I’d suggest free-camping on Whitmore Square. Just park the caravan anywhere you like and stay as long as you like. Quite legal as demonstrated daily. Or anywhere off the South Terrace parklands. Lovely spot. Just park near some of the other free campers who have been there for over a year.
Stick to the free camps & RV friendly towns found online or hide your RV. Back in 1995 in Europe especially Germany it was illegal to camp overnight which we did by hiding a very large self contained motorhome every night for 7 months with no hassles. Alternatively for Noosa if desperate someone has to stay awake in the driver’s seat with food & drink then you are just parking having a snack. Then your sleep time has to be out of Noosa at the places that welcome RV people. Never answer the door to someone banging on it. It could be someone wanting to harm or rob you.
We are currently in Noosa staying with friends. Just the other day, we needed to gut a fish. And being responsible people, we trawled the Noosa River looking for a fish gutting station. Finally located one at the Tewantin Noosa Marina. Our moho is 7.5m long and the only place we could temporarily park was the almost empty boat trailer park. It was 10am on a weekday. I sat in the van whilst my partner gutted the fish. Not two minutes later, the council officer arrived. I explained that we had to gut ONE fish, could not find a park to fit our big moho, and were moving on directly afterwards. He was very hostile and kept repeating ‘move on’! Pretty pathetic really. This is straight out harassment. He could actually see the small bream being gutted…it wasn’t a whopping shark! Now, before all you do-gooders jump down my throat, all I am saying is that maybe towns such as Noosa, could provide more designated parking areas for long vehicles, sans trailers. To actually PARK an RV for water associated activities. ie kayaking, fishing etc. I totally understand the problem with illegal street camping however. This is a totally different situation.
If you don’t like local Council Rules, I respectfully suggest to not go back there!!!
We have often had to use boat ramp parking bays for our long caravan to access small town shopping. Even RVfriendly towns run out of space and it is difficult to manoeuvre to find places. Often we see single cars are parked there blocking the whole series of parking bays However we use these long bays only for a short time and never if it is a busy place or on weekends. I wish there was a better answer. We usually Google to find RV parking in towns. More places would be better. But travellers would abuse these too. Maybe Councils could utilise these as ‘official overnight only’ parking when they are not being used for boat trailers?
If you were parked illegally, then you were criminals. Park and camp where it is allowed and there’s no problem. Seems there are a lot of caravan snowflakes around who think they can do what they like then feel ‘offended’ when they are pulled up about it.
Maybe you could park at the hospital?
Surely if his wife had a specialist appointment (which usually need to be booked well in advance) during the busy holiday period, wouldn’t you book a caravan park and not just ‘wing it’?
Spot on, they always were going to park illegally. Should have arrived well in advance of the appointment and rested up in a nice park. You can’t take it with you/
If your illegally parked a non designated area then. you are breaking the law which means you become a criminal/. If you can’t afford a camp area then stay at home . at least stay un the designated camo areas but please only for the agreed time
Can someone tell me what is the difference between camping and resting.
I think it is in a designated area that clearly states Rest Stop versus camping. normally rest stop is 24 Hrs Max and camping is considered more than 24 hrs???
Camping is for a 24 hour period. Resting is overcoming .05
I have not been there and seems I will not come to a place where tourists are not welcome….OZ is big enough for avoiding a selfish place and officials like noosa….I m not coming there !
David Gutierrez its beautiful at Noosa its the people who luve here complaining to council that cause council to act on campers etc. There is no free camping in Noosa.
Council fined an old couple for sleeping in their caravan yet i was at The Spit in Noosa 2 weeks ago and lots of people were drinking alcahol a group of adults were drunk and swesring and tipping alcohol over each other and fighting i had to go up to them and tell them it was not appropriate. They could have hurt an old person or child lots of families were there but funny no council person fined any of those people who were causing problems and danger to everyone at the beach.
Please go to Noosa it is nice place but wealthy people rule the area and complain about everyone. Its very expensive but beach is beautiful.
Tourists are the main stay of most of these councils, the local businesses rely on tourists, so if the councils are that thick and arrogant not to have enough overnight rest 12 hour parking areas only as apposed to camping areas with a reasonable charge with heavy fines for abusing the limits, supplying garbage bins and possibly water, within walking distance to toilets, then there is a great opportunity for local businesses to make a little extra by utilising empty after hours parking areas, like Coles or Woolworths parking, even bigger service stations, chances are they will gain extra business other wise missed.
I am not talking about getting out the barby deck chairs and socialising, just some where to get a feed and a good nights rest before moving on, some place that can accommodate temporary overflow in popular areas instead of losing out on business income.
Fining people will only guarantee bad feed back and others avoiding these places, A move on notice or be fined would take some of the bad taste out of it. I guess that would have been tried without success, and I myself wouldn’t like some one camping out the front of my place either, it’s the sort of thing that if they can get away with it others will monkey see monkey do.
There is also the need for some where to leave your van securely so you can un hitch bugger off for the day seeing the sights spend your money do the touristy thing stay overnight in some thing like the above and move on, if you like the place next time book well in advance at a caravan park, it’s some thing caravan parks could look in to day van parking.
Australia has turned into a very unwelcoming place.
If you have a registered vehicle then it would surely be legal to park on any road in Australia as long as you abide by designated parking signs.
What authority has someone in council with a badge to issue fines for parking and resting in said vehicle.
I think if this went to court it would be thrown out as unconstitutional!…an infringement on civil liberties.
Chill out every one we all have a place on this planet. Covid has changed alot of things, money is tight discrimination is rising, no jab no job mandates. Inflation is rising, diesel food. Have a heart everyone. Australia is renowned for travellers be proud. Plus this couple were not setting up for a long period. Goodness knows why their appeal failed. It’s going to get harder for everyone. Be kind.
Thank you, thank you, thank you Ang your my sort of person. I whole heartedly agree. People have become so selfish and disrespectful.
Glad im not alone in spreading kindness.
Ms Contini’s concept of council’s officers waking a couple of pensioners up at 4am, as courteous and professional, is beyond the pale. This woman needs to resign now. Further, what sort of wierdo council officers prowl around at 4am in the morning anyway?
There’s a lot of entitlement shown in some of these responses. The bottom line is that they parked illegally and got caught.
You can’t tell me that they didn’t have time or notice to prebook a site for said medical appointment. The excuses offered are pretty thin.
Since when was it illegal to park and rest on the side of the road in your registered vehicle?
No wonder people go overseas to travel. Go to Cabellas in USA with motor home. They welcome you. Backward Australia. By the way I am an Aussie but we are loosing it
This is a major issue for Rv-er’s throughout Australia, there are insufficient rest areas along with parking at Fuel Stations. Caravaner’s and RV’s have to use Truck parking bays this is due to drivers parking in the bays for Caravans. Case in point the Nth bound at Wyong Ampol (Caltex) on the M1 on a recent trip walking through the parking area 6 spaces clearly marked Trailer Parking Only and a number of drivers parked not at either end but right in the middle.
Possibly with the greatly increase in RV groups might petition the State Governments to force Councils to plan parking for Rv er’s. Even so the Grey Nomads could publish a list of Councils unfavourable to Rv’s (Caravans) in every issue and we can avoid those areas, then businesses within those Council’s or Shire’s will take action to bring back Rv er’s with money to spend.
Australia is losing more and more freedoms. Regulations are now the source of more power for petty bureaucrats.
Come to Portland.
All welcome
free camping is available
Do the wrong thing, expect to be penalised!!
well, Noosa is among the outrageous councils that we will never again visit. there are too many of these tinpot bureaucrats around aussie these days. sometimes you get the idea we now live in one of those despot countries we see so much of on the media. whatever happened to a fair go? many of we older folk have served our country we once loved and admired, only to find the younger generations seem to have lost or never gotten the essence of what it is to be aussie. some of the comments reflect this dog-eat-dog attitude too, sadly. the idea of finding an alternative rest spot is also a tad unrealistic for tired old bones at the evening stop. and the idea that somehow everyone should know about alternative nearby spots is also a tad omniscient. we have been in the situation of having to travel on for many hours even after talking to local police to try to find a suitable alternative that wouldn’t freeze us to death overnight. death was knocking on my door that night, but who could care less? Btw, we discovered at another time that there is a provision for ‘vulnerable drivers’ that allows old tired folk who have a problem finding a safe overnight stay spot (like when the local park is already full as happened to us once). wave that in the face of the local constabulary and other authorities and don’t forget to take names, number plates and if possible photos of any offenders, and document your interactions. come on folks, a little empathy and sympathy for us oldies.
i’ll go to Portland at Xmas.
I can’t stand people who live in houses
Just interested to know. If l pulled up in my car. And went fishing All night would that be alright? Just can’t do it if I’m driving a motorhome. ?????
It’s unfortunate but so many are not just resting and staying for a very long time. Around where I live there is a community all illegally camping near the park. They use the BBQ’s, there is a public toilet available, they fill their containers to the brim with the water provided and shower at the local showers at the football club – all for free. I don’t believe they are homeless – they have lovely big vans and some have boats and expensive 4 wheel drives. They also light fires, sit around near their tables drinking and smoking and have washing strewn about. The council says it’s difficult. It is beyond a joke
Why not consider trying to emulate the caravan parking option, that it available in Geraldton, Western Australia.
Last time that I checked, the CGG provided caravan parking on the foreshore at no cost.
Reservations might be in order, sanitary services are onsite.
If your looking for a welcoming region of Australia, that still has the enchantment of clean water, uncrowded beaches and open spaces…the Coral Coast is it.