Warren Entsch (Leichhardt, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, good fisheries management, not policy on the run like we are seeing with this, in a government that, again, is being influenced by a an email campaign run by the Greens and GetUp!. That is what this is about. It is not about fishing management. It is about the Greens and GetUp! putting the pressure on. They got in a panic. Yesterday it was fine. Suddenly, today, we are going to stop it. They have even changed the name to the Abel Tasman. If there had been sensible amendments which said, 'We will restrict where we can fish with these vessels,' I would have been absolutely supportive. I hope that we can put something up of a similar nature so that we can actually get back to appropriate management of this vessel rather than this other nonsense.

The other reason I oppose this is that we were told that all the science was done on this—and everything I have seen suggests the science is there. There may be a few little tweaks that we can do in relation to move-on provisions, but the science is there to suggest that this is okay. I have been arguing now for many years about decisions that have been made in my area based on email campaigns and not on science. I have argued very strongly that we should be using science and sustainability as the only criteria in relation to management of fisheries. This emotional claptrap that is being directed here by organisations such as the Pew foundation should be totally disregarded for the spam that it is. But, unfortunately, this government are a captive of the Greens and these interest groups because they do not know how to make a decent decision.

We have already seen sovereign risk issues in relation to the mining resource tax. That had a huge negative impact on confident investment in this country. Have a look at the debacle that the minister for agriculture was involved in in relation to live cattle exports and the sovereign risk in that, a shocking decision that was again made by interest groups and an email and video campaign. We are seeing exactly the same thing now being applied to our fisheries. The minister should hang his head in shame.

I have another impact in my area which I would like to raise. In 1964 Vic Oke and his brother Gordon bought the Cairns saltwater baths and they converted it into an oceanarium. From that time, with their love of diving, they started up a business which was followed on by Vic's daughter Bev, who married Lyle Squire Sr, and then that business became the Cairns marine aquarium. It is now owned by a third generation—Lyle Jr and his brother Cadel. Between them they have six children, all with a strong interest. So there was a possibility that this business could go for four generations. They have been catching reef fish for aquariums and have been taking fish from the same reefs for three generations. It has been recognised as being absolutely world's best practice and totally sustainable. They have been taking the same species from the same area for three generations.

What has happened? First of all, they were shut down by green zones and moved from that area. They were paid $3.8 million in compensation to allow them to buy bigger vessels so that they could move out into the Coral Sea to operate and to set up infrastructure at a Cairns base. Now with the new Coral Sea marine reserve restrictions it is likely that out of the 16 operators that are currently working there only three will be able to continue. This is an organisation that is recognised as world's best practice. The casualties of these limits in the Coral Sea marine reserve will include line and trap fisherman, rock lobster and beche de mer fisheries, and one other aquarium operator. The main problem that these guys face now is that because there is 100 per cent cost recovery the total cost of managing this fishery, which is $300,000, will be spread over three people instead of 16, which means it will be totally unsustainable for them.

It is interesting because I was talking only a while ago to strategic projects manager Ryan Donnelly from the Cairns marine aquarium and he said to me, 'Warren, the funny thing about it is that the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority still holds us up as the poster child for the fishing industry in the Great Barrier Reef. These are the people who you would think would want to stop us from fishing on the reef. If we are forced out of the Coral Sea, the infrastructure, the boats, the buildings, our Stratford site and all our staff will have to go.'

These are the sorts of impacts that we are seeing from decisions being made because of populist calls by interest groups like Pew, GetUp! and the Greens. On the one hand, the government makes these decisions on the run without any consideration whatsoever of science. And then, on the other hand, they suddenly get the science and the vessel's operators make an absolute commitment over two years. They steam halfway around the world to be here to start the operation. There are 50 new jobs created et cetera. It needs some tweaking done, but then of course there is another campaign by another lot of interest groups and suddenly the government reneges on the deal. How good does that make us look? It is an absolute disgrace. The minister should hang his head in shame and those on the other side should be condemned for supporting this ridiculous legislation.

See this speech in context