Warren Entsch (Leichhardt, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last week over 4,000 coral trout fingerlings made their way to Taiwan from Cairns in my electorate of Leichhardt in a trial shipment, a pilot shipment—a first in our region. It is fantastic to see firsthand how Company One Pty Ltd has diversified and set up a world-class facility to accommodate a billion-dollar industry.

This almost didn't happen. At the end of 2016, I received a phone call from the then Finfish Enterprise Pty Ltd advising the Labor state government were literally going to turn off their power that afternoon and, as a result, millions of fish would be euthanised. It was only through my intervention that they were able to keep the lights on and their employees in a job. Then Company One was formed and, with it, an exciting development for the Cairns fish-breeding facility.

The fingerlings are shipped in styrofoam boxes inside plastic bags filled with oxygen-rich water to last the 18-hour trip. Company One have invested a lot of time, money and energy into a special boxing technique for the species, to minimise as much stress as possible for the fish. They are capable of breeding over 10 million giant groper and coral trout fingerlings every year. Company One will continue to invest heavily and are now looking at breeding other select species. Congratulations to Richard, Ryan, Angelique and the team on your commitment to keeping this industry alive and growing in our region. (Time expired)

See this speech in context