Phillip Thompson (Herbert, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

Australians and people from around the world love the Great Barrier Reef. Its natural beauty, its diverse marine wildlife and its protection of our northern east coastline are not to be taken for granted. But the inclusion of the phase out of gillnet fishing in this motion is falsely tying this ill-informed decision to the protection of the reef. We just heard from a member of parliament who lives in Ipswich, and before that we had the member for Moreton, who brought forward this bill. They don't live near the Great Barrier Reef, and it's clear they haven't done much fishing or spoken to any local fishers. You can't net the reef; you can't put a net over the top of the Great Barrier Reef. For one simple reason: it will cut the net to pieces. So, to say that you need to ban gillnet fishing to save the Great Barrier Reef is false, is misleading and makes clear that the government hasn't consulted anyone locally who works on the reef, any fishers that are out there, or anyone that supports this.

In June this year, the Minister for the Environment and Water made the decision to phase out N2 and N4 fishing licences by 31 December 2023. Since the announcement, I've been strongly advocating to press pause so that proper community consultation can take place. Imagine that—a government consulting the people it's going to affect. We were promised that at the last election, but, once again, it's another broken promise by this Labor government.

I wrote to both the Minister for the Environment and Water and the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and put forward several recommendations, including the immediate commencement of community consultation. How is this for playing the blame game? The Labor Minister for the Environment and Water passed the buck off to one of her bureaucrats, who then referred responsibility to the state Labor minister. He didn't bother to respond at all. He refuses to even talk to the community or the media about what's going on. Talk about pointing the finger and letting the community down. The lack of responsibility over what is supposedly a joint initiative is dumbfounding. How can you completely destroy an industry without so much as answering basic questions?

In the last sitting period, the coalition government moved a motion for a formal inquiry into the adoption of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee policy directives. This was, of course, blocked by the Albanese Labor government and their Greens mates. If you don't want to be questioned over a policy, that is a clear indicator of what sort of policy it is. It's one which they know they don't have any good answers for. So, instead of answering basic questions, what do those opposite do? They put forward this tricky motion that is nothing but a false promotion of their decision to phase out a low-impact fishing technique and destroy the Australian seafood industry. I'll ask again. Where do the fishers go? What do people like Dr Andrew Tobin do? He is the owner of a net license, retail shop and seafood truck. He delivers fish and wild-caught seafood across north-west Queensland. With this phase-out, he is set to lose it all. Out of everything that he's set to lose, what will he get compensation for? His licence, and his license only. Never mind the seafood truck, the retail shop or the impact on the sales.

I've said it before, and I will say it again: this phase-out is cutting off the hand that feeds the industry, resulting in the loss of jobs and the closure of businesses that rely on this source of seafood product. Our fishing industry is already heavily regulated, with all commercial fishers keeping well-documented logbooks with up-to-the-minute information. All vessels are equipped with satellites for the purpose of monitoring their movement and communication. But both ministers don't understand their portfolios when they think fishing with a net on the reef is even possible, like I said at the start. This is the complete and utter nonsense coming out of this Labor federal government, as well as the Labor state government in Queensland. The sheer incompetence to think that a net can go over the reef just shows they have spent no time out there, and to see the blame game and the pointing of the fingers is disgraceful. I call on both state and federal ministers to get out there and speak with locals on the ground.

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