Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Community Services ) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to speak in support of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Declared Fishing Activities) Bill. As many people in this place would know, what has become known as the super-trawler debate has been very big in Tasmania and the changes proposed in the bill are very important to my fellow Tasmanians. I have been contacted by many Tasmanians as part of what has truly become a grassroots campaign. Thousands of petition signers live in my electorate and thousands of people have personally contacted my office—it is a very big issue in my home state of Tasmania.

I want to spend some time talking about what this bill does and about the local Tasmanian campaign. The bill strengthens Australia's fishing industries, both commercial and recreational, by ensuring proposals for large-scale operators are given proper consideration before they get the go-ahead to fish in Australian waters. We as a government are taking a cautious approach. We know that a vessel of this size has not been in Australian waters before. This is the second biggest fishing vessel on the planet, and we do not want to be rushed into any decisions. We want to make sure we know the impacts of it before we give it the green light. We want to make sure we know what will happen. We know the science behind the current quotas is sound, but of course the science has not been done on the long-term effects of a vessel of this size. We certainly know that local community concern has been led, particularly in Tasmania, by the recreational fishers themselves, who are really concerned to make sure we get this right.

This bill is essentially about giving the government time to make sure that we get any decisions that we make on a vessel of this size right, because it is really important. We have said that we are not ruling out a super-trawler in the future, but we want to make sure that any assessment process is done properly.

The Fisheries Management Act has been in place for some time, since 1991, so it is now more than 20 years old, and that is why we have also announced an overhaul of the fisheries policy and legislation. We have said that that will be a root-and-branch review to identify any improvements or changes that need to be made, because we do want to make sure that we have sustainable fisheries going into the future for Australians, including of course Tasmanians. Tasmanians were also very concerned about bycatch and the impacts of the super-trawler on bycatch, so I am glad that Minister Burke has also addressed some of those issues.

I want to take the time to thank the minister for fisheries and the ministry for the environment for their responsiveness over the last few weeks when they have been contacted by me and other Tasmanians—our two senators, Lin Thorp and Carol Brown, and, in particular, Sid Sidebottom, the member for Braddon and the parliamentary secretary for fisheries. The member for Braddon has been on the ground in Tasmania talking to recreational fishers and other people in the community who have concerns about this trawler coming into Australian waters. He has been very busy. He has taken a very considered approach. He obviously has concerns about his local community and about the broader sustainability of fisheries around Australia. He has been doing a great job on the ground in Tasmania.

We have seen what is a unique grassroots campaign in Tasmania, led by the recreational fishers, as I said before, and I do want to congratulate some local people who have been instrumental in that campaign. Tyson Clements, Martin Haley and Nobby Clark are well known to any representative of Tasmania who has been lobbied on this issue in recent weeks and months. In fact, I think I first met with them around two months ago. They are very passionate individuals and they have been fighting for this not for themselves but because they wanted to make sure Tasmanian fisheries were protected in the long term. They were really concerned about the future of recreational fishing and commercial fishing, and their sustainability. They wanted to ensure that their children and grandchildren had the benefits of the unique lifestyle that Tasmania offers. We know that Tasmanians are particularly passionate about their lifestyle and our environment. They understand that decisions about Australia's fisheries are based on science and should continue to be, and I certainly agree with that. They are just saying, 'How can we know we've got it right, when a super-trawler of this size has never been in Tasmanian waters before?' I think that is a valid argument and, clearly, the government think that is a valid argument. That is why we are taking our time to look at the issues that have been raised to make sure that we do the work before we allow this vessel to operate. There have been a lot of accusations around the place about knee-jerk reactions, about the government bowing to pressure, but this is not about that. It is not about populism. It is about doing the right thing. It is about representing our constituencies, it is about understanding the concerns in the local community and it is about—

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