Qld: Qld govt won't seek reimburesment from man over cliff jump

AAP General News (Australia)
02-12-2007
Qld: Qld govt won't seek reimburesment from man over cliff jump

By Roberta Mancuso

BRISBANE, Feb 12 AAP - The Queensland government won't seek compensation from daredevil
types who spark costly search and rescue missions, no matter how stupid they've been.

Emergency Services Minister Pat Purcell today rejected opposition calls on the government
to chase re-reimbursement from a man charged with being a public nuisance after triggering
a search in a Sunshine Coast national park.

Justus Ansell, 21, was feared drowned after he jumped off the highest point of Oyster
Rock in Noosa National Park on a dare on Saturday afternoon and failed to resurface.

A search was launched involving rescue helicopters, lifeguards, SES volunteers and police.

Mr Ansell was found 14 hours later with a dislocated shoulder and clinging to rocks
near the water after spending the night sheltering in a cave.

He was treated for exposure, fatigue, dehydration and a shoulder injury, caused when
he hit the water.

Police today charged him and he'll appear in Noosa Magistrates Court on February 27.

The search is estimated to have cost authorities up to $10,000.

Opposition legal affairs spokesman Mark McArdle said that if Mr Ansell was convicted,
the government should seek full re-reimbursement for search and rescue costs.

"It is a ludicrous state of affairs that scarce emergency services resources are forced
to be diverted because some people in our community behave in an irresponsible manner,"

Mr McArdle said.

But Mr Purcell said the government could not put a monetary value on saving someone's life.

He said doing so might scare people away from making emergency calls when they're in trouble.

"We want people to dial triple-zero when they get in trouble, whether it's from a foolish
act of their own, like the lad who on a dare jumped off the (cliff) into the ocean, or
someone who drives too fast and has an accident," Mr Purcell said.

He said that while the government did have the power to recover search and rescue costs,
it had never done so.

But the minister appealed to young men to think before they acted "foolishly".

"I know what young boys are like. But you've got to think about the consequences before
you do something, and don't do something because your mates dare you to do it," he said.

Surf lifesavers today condemned Mr Ansell's actions as "stupid and irresponsible" and
said they put rescuers' lives at risk.

"There are signs up there everywhere saying steep cliffs and stay away from them, but
again this whole incident could have been prevented if he had not been stupid enough to
take the dare and jump off a cliff," Sunshine Coast Surf Life Saving coordinator Byron
Mills told ABC radio.

AAP rm/pjo/it/cdh

KEYWORD: JUMP NIGHTLEAD

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.