Mal Washer (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is an absolute privilege to support the member for Fremantle on this important issue. The establishment of marine sanctuaries is aimed at improving the management of the whole of the marine ecosystems, including the interaction of people and industry with marine environments and species. Very little is known about Australia's oceans, especially in the deeper water where demersal fishing occurs. Marine sanctuaries include important areas such as feeding, breeding and foraging habits of unique and threatened species. It is believed that stocks will recover within the reserve and the spill over of these species will help the sustainability of recreational and commercial fishing. Researchers also suggest that closing reef areas to fishing can delay the effects of one of their biggest threats—climate change. Such marine reserves may give reefs a fighting chance.

My electorate of Moore in Western Australia overlooks the Indian Ocean. It is a beautiful stretch of coastline of long and sandy beaches. Running along three-quarters of the electorate's coastal boundary is the Marmiom Marine Park. Established in 1987, it was the first marine park in Western Australia's state waters and aims to protect the diverse ocean life of the local limestone reefs and islands. The park has become a very popular spot, with Perth people making more than 1½ million visits each year to swim, boat, fish, snorkel and dive. At Hillarys Marina, the Aquarium of Western Australia is a great place to spend a few hours and marvel at WA's remarkable ocean life in huge tanks. Some of that life is found in the Marmion Marine Park.

If I were to stand and face west and look down to the rocks and water's edge, across the surf break and the Little Island sanctuary zone to the horizon and then imagine travelling 350 kilometres, all I would see would be Australia's oceans. As the member for Fremantle has already pointed out, our oceans are big and under international law we are charged with the responsibility of looking after them. As my eyes travelled across those waters to the west, I might see some juvenile southern bluefin tuna heading south from their only known spawning ground, in Western Australia's Kimberley region. They travel past my electorate and the electorates of Fremantle and Forrest on their way down to Cape Leeuwin, in our state's south-west corner. There the young tuna must choose which way to go—east or west. Some head west but most turn east—a decision tuna have been making for aeons. It is locked into their DNA.

The South-west Marine Region stretches from Kalbarri to Kangaroo Island. It is the focus of the federal government's regional marine planning process and a draft marine plan has just been released for 90-day public consultation. Like the choice for juvenile southern bluefin tuna, the government is deciding which way we should go in our oceans. For the government, though, the choice is over the direction to take oceans protection. This process has its origins with the Howard government's release of Australia's Oceans Policy in 1998, the same year I entered federal parliament.Australia's Oceans Policy was released to wide acclaim and ushered in an extended period of marine research, community and stakeholder consultation and oceans protection.It is now 13 years since the policy's release—13 years since I stood here and addressed this House in my maiden speech.Preparing for today made me think back to that first speech and what might be relevant now. In one section I said:

Tourism is set to be a major business in the electorate, taking advantage of our exquisite coastline which stretches in pristine condition for many kilometres. New marinas in the future will no doubt mirror the success of existing marinas at Hillarys and Mindarie, which producevaluable tourist dollars.

Environmental tourism is becoming more important to the electorate and more marine parks need to be established. Hopefully we will establish marine research facilities along the coastline to improve coastal management and engage in effluent research, sea safety and pollution control. Marmion Marine Park has now been joined by others in WA's state waters. As well as the wonderful aquarium at Hillarys Marina there are also the laboratories of the WA Department of Fisheries , where important marine research is now being conducted. I am very pleased to see increased protection for WA waters, but it is now time to turn our attention to creating a network of Commonwealth marine reserves in what some have called Western Australia's 'big blue backyard'.

The aquarium at Hillarys Marina , AQWA , has ocean life from each marine ecosystem in state waters. Variations in geology and coastal alignment, water temperature and water depth create different habitats for an amazing diversi ty of marine plants and animals, most found nowhere but here. This month's release of the draft south-west marine plan is a remarkable opportunity to establish protection for a representative sampling of ocean ecosystems in our big blue backyard —j ust like one big aquarium , this time an oceanarium. Putting a marine reserve network in place can also help prevent problems occurring in some of our state waters. Members outside of Western Australi a might not have heard of the 'v ulnerable f ive'. No, they are not a group of endangered superheroes but five species of WA fish that are in trouble due to overfishing. We need to create some places free of fishing to help stabilise and rebuild their numbers. There is even general acceptance among recreational fishers that this would be a good initiative. Other problems for our state waters have included water pollution from catchment run - off and groundwater tainted by urban development, the loss of seagrass meadows— the nurseries of the sea — and fish kills from algal blooms.

The c oalition has a proud record of protecting the health of our oceans. After the release of its Oceans Policy and the establishment of the regional marine planning process, the Howard g overnment began the building of a remarkable oceans protection legacy. The internationally acclaimed rezoning of the Great Barrier Reef, which increased marine national park zones from five per cent to 33 per cent of the park, is the highlight. But the legacy also includes marine reserves at Macquarie Island and Heard and McDonald Islands and in the South-East Marine Region.

We cannot ignore the tireless campaigns of successive Howard government environment ministers to see the end of commercial whaling. This was borne out of the Fraser government's ending of commercial whaling in Australian waters—the last whaling station to close in Australia was at Cheynes Beach, near Albany, in the federal electorate of O'Connor in 1978. With the rezoning of the Great Barrier Reef, the Howard government led the world in oceans protection and encouraged other leaders like George W Bush to follow with very large marine reserves. For example, the 364,000 square kilometre Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument was signed into law in 2006, Kiribati created the 410,000 square kilometre Phoenix Island Protected Area in 2008, while the UK government created the Chagos Islands Marine Reserve of 540,000 square kilometres in 2010.

Australia now needs to again set the pace by establishing networks of Commonwealth marine reserves in the south-west, north-west, north and east marine regions, and within those networks there should be a system of marine sanctuaries or marine national park zones. The best available science, and the scientific consensus, is definitely on the side of the sanctuaries. The member for Fremantle has already mentioned the success of the sanctuary zones at Rottnest Island. In the Abrolhos Islands, about 400 kilometres north of Perth, fish abundance was up to eight times higher in areas closed to fishing compared with fished areas. There are many other examples in Australia and overseas where marine sanctuaries have had a very positive effect on ocean life. Last year 245 international marine scientists outlined their rationale for very large marine sanctuaries, and during the 2010 federal election 152 Australian scientists sought support from the Labor and coalition parties for sanctuary networks to reverse the decline of our ocean life.

I encourage my colleagues on this side of the House to support the rollout of Commonwealth marine reserves and marine sanctuaries and work to ensure that sufficient funding is allocated to assist displaced commercial fishers and affected regional communities as Australia moves towards further increasing the protection of its oceans.

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