page_title: Coast guards in Australia
section_title: Australian Volunteer Coast Guard
hierarchical_section_title: Coast guards in Australia / Community organisations / Australian Volunteer Coast Guard
caption_attribution_description: A small boat of the Australian volunteer coastguard, near Birkenhead Bridge, Port Adelaide, South Australia
context_page_description: Responsibilities for traditional coast guard duties in Australia are distributed across various federal, state and community agencies. The de facto coast guard of Australia is the Maritime Border Command, a joint command of the Australian Defence Force and the Australian Border Force which works alongside the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Fisheries Management Authority, and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. Each state and territory government have specific maritime safety agencies and police marine units. In addition, there are several private volunteer coast guard organisations which act as auxiliary search and rescue services and maritime safety educators with the largest organisations being the Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol established in 1937, the Australian Volunteer Coast Guard established in 1961, and Marine Rescue New South Wales established in 2009.
context_section_description: The Australian Volunteer Coast Guard Association was established in 1961, and modelled on the US Coast Guard Auxiliary, the association is an organisation composed entirely of volunteers. It guards the coast in the most effective way - initially by education, example, examination and finally by search and rescue. The Australian Volunteer Coast Guard has no law enforcement powers. Flotillas and radio bases are located from the Skardon River in the Gulf of Carpentaria, down the eastern seaboard to Ceduna in South Australia, including Tasmania and major inland lakes and weirs. Coast Guard currently has more than 2,500 Regular members and 9,000 Associate members.  Expansion is continuing in areas of need.
  Australian Volunteer Coast Guard resources across Australia include:
  107 Association-owned rescue vessels
  147 radio bases under the control of 72 local flotillas
  30 communication and display vans and 4WD vehicles
  Registered Training Organisations delivering competency based training
  Formal affiliations and collaborations with similar organisations in Australia, New Zealand, North America, the Philippines and Europe.
caption: Australian Volunteer Coastguard vessel
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