Sunshine Coast locks in new dog access rules for beaches, parks, reserves
New off-leash space is coming, but so are tighter bans on beaches, reserves and sports fields. From July 3, Sunshine Coast dog owners will need the map more than the ball thrower.
The biggest win for energetic dogs is not a single beach but a reshaped map: more purpose-built exercise space in some spots, and far less casual freedom in others. From July 3, Sunshine Coast owners will face tighter no-dog restrictions on beaches, reserves and foreshore areas, while designated off-leash zones become the only places where dogs can legally stretch out and sprint.
Sunshine Coast Council approved the revised animal management law on April 23 to enforce the Dog Exercise Area Regional Plan, a 20-year strategy running from 2025 to 2045. The plan was adopted at council’s Ordinary Meeting in December 2025 and is designed to build a network of safe and suitable dog exercise areas while protecting natural and culturally sensitive landscapes. The scale of the shift is hard to miss: the region already has more than 54,000 registered dogs, and council projects that number will climb to 80,300 by 2046.
That pressure shows up in the numbers behind the consultation. Council took community feedback from February 4 to March 7, 2025, and received 2,530 submissions on the draft plan. The draft version pointed to 17 new dog parks and a rebalancing of beach access, including more prohibited areas and less off-leash and on-leash beach space. For regular users of places such as Stumers Creek, Currimundi Beach, Dicky Beach, Point Perry, Point Arkwright, Point Cartwright, Moffat Headland and Caloundra Headland, the practical message is simple: the shoreline is being treated less like open commons and more like a managed network with clear green zones and red ones.
The sports-field rules are just as clear. Council says dogs must be on a leash in public areas unless they are inside a designated off-leash area. Sports fields are not off-leash areas, although dogs can still use common areas on leash, and a permit process remains in place for organised dog events. That matters for anyone using open fields for recall work, warm-ups or a post-walk run, because the new law draws a bright line between dog-friendly space and sport space.
Mayor Rosanna Natoli and councillor Maria Suarez both framed the final plan as a balance between recreation, environmental protection and community values, and that balance now has a date attached to it. Once July 3 arrives, the Sunshine Coast’s dog map will reward owners who know exactly where the off-leash gains are, and exactly where the no-dog boundaries begin.
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