The Aussies delayed due to COVID border restrictions

Surf Life Saving Australia last week confirmed that the 2022 Australian Surf Life Saving Championships (The Aussies) will relocate to the Gold Coast and no longer be held in Perth.

The 2022 Perth event will now be held in 2023, in a direct swap with the Gold Coast event planned for that year.

Queensland Tourism and Sport Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said the event swap would support tourism jobs on the Gold Coast and their COVID-19 Economic Recovery Plan.

“We’ve worked closely with Surf Life Saving Australia to help them navigate around the pandemic’s logistical challenges on the West Coast by bringing the Aussies to Broadbeach,” he said.

Mayor Mark Irwin said that whilst the City of Stirling was disappointed to see The Aussies delayed a year, it was promising that negotiations had ensured the event was not cancelled.

“We welcome Surf Life Saving Australia’s confirmation that The Aussies will be held in Perth in 2023, and wish Queensland well in hosting the 2022 event,” he said.

“With so many of the main events scheduled to be held on the iconic Scarborough Beach, we look forward to the City of Stirling benefitting from the important investment in tourism and small businesses that the event will bring in 2023.

“The City of Stirling has been proactively encouraging the Western Australian community to roll up for WA and get vaccinated, and we are working hard to achieve compliance with the mandatory vaccination requirements for our workforce.

“I call on everyone in WA to get vaccinated as soon as possible, so that we can start bringing in the kinds of national and international events that our tourism operators and small businesses rely on for their income.”