Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I represent what is undoubtedly the best electorate in the country. Fisher is the place of choice for education, employment and retirement. It's a place of industry, innovation and unparalleled natural beauty, and it boasts one of the oldest and most successful commercial fishery industries in the country.

The fishing industry is one of the crucial primary industries which have long girded our national economy. It's one of the oldest industries in human history, and it will continue to play a vital role in ensuring food security for many years to come. The sector employs as many as 17,000 people and over 300 families on the Sunshine Coast. They rely on the industry to make ends meet in what is an increasingly difficult economic time. Cost of living is through the roof.

I think of companies in my electorate like Walker Seafoods, one of Australia's best seafood exporters. Based in Mooloolaba, in my electorate, Walker Seafoods is Australia's only MSC certified tuna company. Walker Seafoods' swordfish and tuna recently featured in a Jamie Oliver special at Petermen dining.

I recently visited Mooloolaba Fisheries, which is a different business, where owner, Gary, and chef Paul have launched the Mooloolaba schnitty, a panko crumbed tuna version of the classic chicken schnitzel. It's very, very good. I encourage you all to try it. Gary told me, in my discussions with him just last week, that their power bills are set to jump by almost 75 per when he comes off contract. These increases in power costs could cripple a small business like Mooloolaba Fisheries. That is the reality of the Australian dream under this Albanese government. It is slipping out of the reach of everyday Australians.

Fishing is a quintessentially Australian industry. It deserves support from this government, yet this government has imposed a sustained assault on the industry. Those opposite meddled have with the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility Scheme. They've made backpacker visas more expensive and more restrictive. They've increased taxes on truckies and heavy vehicle road users and introduced a new biosecurity levy. They've imposed green tape and uniform bans on things like gillnets, risking 100 small and family businesses in Queensland alone. At the same time, state Labor are enforcing new quotas and catch bans on a wide range of fishing. This has knock-on effects for restaurants, packers, suppliers and a number of small businesses at the other end of the supply chain.

When I was on the wharf at Mooloolaba last week, an industry participant was telling me that the prawning boats had been tied up at the wharf for six weeks—all of them—because of the Queensland state Labor government's forced moratorium on prawning for a six-week period. That might sound all well and good for some, but what about those people who are trying to make a living—the people who have huge mortgages on those boats and who employ so many people, on the wharf and in their factories? I've also spoken many times to other fisherman, who told me about their longlines, which can stretch out for kilometres. One of those longlines drifted into an area that was a no-fish area, and they were threatened with imprisonment and fines of over a million dollars. That was under the former federal Labor government.

This government needs to remember and recognise that fishing is such an important industry. It provides us with our protein. Those opposite need to let our fishers do their job, and that is to go and fish. Governments need to get out of the pockets of small businesses.

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