Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in support of the member for Capricornia's wonderful motion to oppose the Queensland Liberal National Party government's gutting of Sunfish and funding for major recreational fishing programs. Sadly, it has only been six months, but I am again rising in this place to oppose the Liberal National Party cuts occurring in Queensland, whether it be job cuts, cuts to programs such as the Queensland Literacy Awards, cuts to the TB clinic in Brisbane, cuts to breast screening, cuts to funding for taxi vouchers to people with disability, and I could go on.

I note there is an ongoing theme when I rise to speak about the Liberal National Party, which is always to do with cuts. On this particular occasion, obviously, it is to do with the LNP cuts to the recreational fishing programs. I did not hear the speeches from the member for Herbert or the member for Dawson. I did hear the member for Flynn and the member for Calare, and I note that for all four of those speakers—if I take my advice from the member from Blair—none of them actually said that Campbell Newman's decision to cut the funding for Sunfish was a good policy. None of them said that it is right. So all pressure rests on the member for Wright to stand up and defend this decision to cut jobs up the east coast of Queensland. I look forward to the member Wright, who is a good bloke and will obviously stand up and defend, because there was a damning silence from the member for Flynn when it came to supporting Campbell Newman's decision to cut. The member for Calare just went off on a frolic of his own, which was the same speech he has been giving for the last 20 years. It went straight back to 1996. That is the vision for the future. He goes straight to 1996, yet he is the modern face of the Liberal and National parties on that side of the chamber.

But let us look to the cuts to fishing in Queensland by the Newman government. To date they have: cut $8 million the Fisheries budget; cut 60 jobs from Fisheries Queensland with many of those jobs in Flynn out of the 14,000 jobs that were cut across departments; ceased funding to Sunfish Queensland, which is what this motion is all about; ceased the Fisheries observer program; ceased the industry development program for commercial and recreational fishing—

See this speech in context