Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Declared Fishing Activities) Bill 2012. This government could not hold a line between the kitchen sink and the stove. Really, the backflips on policy week after week are becoming so monotonous as to be almost not worth comment. The similarities between this issue and the live cattle export dispute are enormous: within a few days, a government has gone from supporting an industry to suspending the industry.

Last week, with the exception of four or five people, everybody on that side of the chamber supported allowing this vessel to come into Australian waters; this week, they have completely changed their view. What has changed in that time? There has been a public campaign led by GetUp! and the Greens—around half a million emails. And we saw it happen before in the live cattle dispute. The Left of Australian politics has Labor running scared. This just joins a long line of policy backflips—I will not take you through them, Madam Deputy Speaker, as we often do on this side of the chamber—

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