Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

There were 78,000 illegal fishermen and 13,000 sightings of possible illegal fishing vessels operating beyond this 12-mile mark. We know, for the reasons I pointed out earlier, that the number of illegal fishing vessels coming to Australia’s northern coastline is growing at an ever-increasing rate.

This bill is, in my view, an admission of failure by the government—and it is there in the budget for all to see. We note that $320 million was provided for in the budget to address this issue, but what is the money being used for? $47.9 million is for quarantine risk management and boat destruction. Once we have caught the small number of vessels we are able to apprehend, we will go out and destroy them. There is $16.5 million in capital expenses as an after-catch expense; $70.3 million for the transfer of apprehended fishermen to Darwin; $18.5 million for charting and surveying northern waters, which includes the Torres Strait and Barrier Reef but not the places where illegal fishermen are coming into Australian waters; $49.6 million for detention services for immigration; another catch expense of $2.7 million over two years for improved office space for the Joint Offshore Protection Command headquarters; and a further $20-odd million for office space for other relevant agencies.

What are the preventative measures? On the assertive side, we have had another $34 million for increased aerial surveillance for Customs and Coastwatch. Without denigrating the professionalism and commitment of the crews involved, this has proved to be of little use against Indonesian fishermen. There is another $31.7 million for the use of the Southern Ocean patrol vessel in northern waters, which of course must leave the patagonian toothfish fleets from Russia applauding. Who is doing the job of patrolling them? It is an admission of failure. Of course, the minister proudly boasts that we will be able to double the apprehension rate as a result of these budget measures. Will it double? That is pretty good. It will go from 0.25 percent to 0.5 per cent. It makes you wonder, doesn’t it? How could you boast that you are doubling something which is almost infinitesimally small? We know that if this were an Aboriginal organisation—and I am aware of many Aboriginal organisations—and they had put in this sort of performance, they would be defunded. That is the truth of it.

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