Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

About three hours ago I rose in the House to offer my support to my state colleague Ms Eleni Petinos, the member for Miranda, about her comments on the proposed no-fishing zones in New South Wales between Newcastle and Wollongong. She said, 'It is unnecessarily complicated, goes too far and intrudes upon the coastal lifestyle that we value.' I support what she said.

I have been very pleased to find out in the last couple of hours that the New South Wales government have actually agreed with our member for Miranda. They have scrapped—taken it off the table—the plans to lock out fisher men and women of the New South Wales coastline. I congratulate the New South Wales Minister for Primary Industries, Niall Blair, for listening to the community concerns. He said:

What is now clear is that their proposed management methods and in some cases the sizes of the sites, offered up a narrow option that unfairly impacted on low risk activities, such as fishing and spear-fishing.

The New South Wales government has taken lockouts off the table.

I congratulate my New South Wales colleagues for that. It is a wise decision. Fishermen are some of our best environmentalists.

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