Bob Baldwin (Paterson, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to again put on the public record my disdain and absolute objection to the operations of the Geelong Star. I was opposed to the FV Margiris super trawler that was to be implemented under the Labor government. Right from the very start, through the backdoor corridors when I was on the executive to the then Prime Minister, Tony Abbott—and, indeed, to the current Prime Minister, to the former minister for fisheries, Richard Colbeck and the current minister for fisheries, Anne Ruston—I have expressed my opposition.

My opposition is based on a number of reasons, some of them environmental. Those are, of course, the bycatches and deaths of dolphins, seals, albatrosses, sharks, turtles and, recently, the whale shark that was caught up on its nets. This is not acceptable.

I have had meetings with Professor Jessica Meeuwig from the University of Western Australia, who is a world-renowned researcher in marine sciences. These mackerel that they are catching are not young, rapidly growing fish; in fact, I understand from Professor Meeuwig that the catch is around 25 years old.

The operations of the supertrawler provide the economic benefit of an industry worth around $20 million per year that employs 66 people, of which 58 are Australians—remembering that this company pays no GST and no fuel tax. If they make a profit, we will receive some company tax. At best we will get PAYG tax. I want to compare that with the recreational fishing industry, which is worth around $10 billion. There are 3,000 tackle stores, 90,000 direct and indirect employees, and five million recreational fishermen, all of whom pay GST and all of whom pay fuel tax. All of those businesses pay PAYG tax and, of course, they pay company tax if they make a profit. The idea of allowing 50 per cent of the total allowable catch to be caught by the supertrawler across species such as blue mackerel, jack mackerel and redbait is unconscionable. I call on the government to stop this in its tracks.

On 25 November the operators and the government reached voluntary agreement. If they intend to adhere to it then I would ask the minister to put these voluntary exclusion zones, which are manageable, into regulations, because what we are seeing with the supertrawler is a constant breach of regulations. I want to see what fines are applied; I want to see what actions are taken. I will not rest until it stops completely, because I think it is bad for our environment, I think it is bad for our recreational fishing industry, I think it is just bad business.

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