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

So, you are telling the people in Flynn that fishery inspectors do not have real jobs. You are saying to the people in Sunfish Queensland that they do not have real jobs. Well, I hope that is some comfort for them when they go home to their wife, or their husband or their kids and say, 'Mum or Dad doesn't have a job. But it wasn't a real job, so it doesn't matter now. We don't have to pay a real mortgage anymore maybe.' That is a ridiculous statement. I hope you withdraw.

Further cuts include: ceasing the Fishcare volunteer program; ceasing operational activity for waterway barrier works construction; cutting all funding to the national Fisheries Research and Development Corporation; scaling back the freshwater fishing program—which, as someone from St George, I am particularly upset about—to focus on the Stocked Impoundment Permit Scheme, freshwater stocking policy, native fish scientific expertise and pest and noxious fish; restructuring of the Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol to build capacity and expertise in priority regional locations—which I notice the member for Flynn actually touched on in his speech as being a bad thing. It is amazing to have those counterintuitive arguments in the one speech; not providing funding for the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation—a decision for this year only, with review in future years; the Marine Ecology Group, seagrass monitoring, transitioning across to James Cook University; and the rationalisation of Brisbane based senior management and support services.

The LNP has also cut front line fisheries researchers, as Minister McVeigh has confirmed in writing. So, it is not surprising to hear that the Liberal National Party has failed at the national level, given that the federal coalition failed to act in response to these state cuts. As I said, we did not hear a single voice raised in the parliament by the member for Herbert, the member for Dawson, the member for Flynn or the member for Calare. All hope is resting on the member for Wright about objecting to these cuts. I go back to the comment made by the member for Blair—these were not flagged before the election, they were not in campaign material that I saw in my mailbox. Campbell Newman's actions are just a sign of what would come if, heaven forbid, the member for Warringah became Prime Minister.

This is in stark contrast to the Gillard Labor government's strong commitment to deliver a national network of marine reserves to protect our precious marine environment for future generations. I was horrified when the very first thing that the Deputy Premier said after taking office was, 'We need to cut the size of the Great Barrier Reef.' Remember that? The very first thing that the Newman government said, 'We need to make the Great Barrier Reef area smaller.' The member for Flynn who has close connections to Gladstone should be ashamed of that. (Time expired)

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