Andrew Laming (Bowman, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There have been many tall tales told in fishing but rarely have there been stories with such serious undertones and repercussions as the threat to fishing in Moreton Bay and the upcoming advisory committee and review process for the marine park. We know very well just how stressed the ecology of south-east Queensland is with one in seven Australians living in that location, hundreds of families moving there every week and up to 500,000 people enjoying the opportunity for recreation on Moreton Bay. Of course, striking a balance between commerce, industry and recreation with a very delicate bayside and island environment is a challenge. But the point I make today is that that is no zero-sum game of trench warfare where there has to be constant battling between environmental views and the views of those in recreation and commercial activities—far from it.

We had a state government that lignified and ossified in their position and just stopped listening to ordinary people. Today I want to acknowledge those who stood together—those with an interest in angling, both commercial and recreational; those with an interest in the seafood industry; those who care about tourism; and those who care about the future use of the bay for all people. They stood together and formed an alliance, the Moreton Bay Access Alliance, on 1 September this year. They took it to a state election and gained really important concessions from the Deputy Premier—not easily or quickly; after cancelled meetings, attempts at coercion and perhaps even threats of removal of state funding in an effort to erode their commitment. They brooked all of that. They met with the Deputy Premier and extracted, two days before the state election, important concessions.

Why did they have to fight for such simple concessions as a seat on the review process for the Moreton Bay Marine Park, a chance to have both the office of state development and fisheries and primary industries involved in any cabinet submission that went to the Premier, and an agreement to share information? Those were basic concessions that should never have taken the battle that we saw in September. What we had was the signing of a petition, with thousands of people at the boat show putting their names to it. That will be lodged by me in the next sitting week. We saw a postcard campaign. There was also a convoy of boats and trailers to Parliament House just the week before the state election.

These marine protected areas are a challenge for all of Australia, not just south-east Queensland, but I give my commitment today to people like Tony Webb and the other commercial fishers, to the half a million recreational fishers and to those who are involved in boat clubs right up and down south-east Queensland that we will work to find a solution that enables, as I have said, the delicate ecology to be protected for future generations but allows basic activities like fishing to also occur. One thing I know about fishermen through my experience over the last few years as a federal member is that they are prepared to adhere to laws—they will see what is going to be good for their area and their ecology, for fish stocks and for biomass, and stick by those laws in the main.

The traditional elders are strongly supportive. There is Vince Martin from the Nunukul Ngugi, a traditional pioneer in sea cucumber processing, who has Regional Partnerships money. The work of John Conley, from Redlands Tourism, is legion in my area. Kelly Williams, young and dynamic, agreed to head up the industry association together with John Page, a committed third-generation fisherman from Moreton Bay. He made the very good point that fish swim into Moreton Bay and back out the other side again—we are catching biomass that moves through it. If they did not move through we would have long ago fished it out and turned every rock a generation ago. There are ways of fishing sustainably in Moreton Bay.

Donna Browne became the heroine of the campaign, and Bruce Alvey, the industry’s national treasure of all things fishing, was also heading up that campaign. To Keith Hall, Trevor Higgins, Frank Lee, Jeff Sorrell, Shane Boese and Rick Huckstep, the results are obvious. We have extracted the commitment that we all wanted. But the next step is turning it into reality and fighting to make sure that there is mutual agreement between the environmental argument and those who want to continue using the bay so that it can be preserved for future generations.

We have, of course, that precautionary principle that we should make a decision about whether threats are serious and irreversible enough to put regulation in before we do the science. The commitment from this group is to find the science, take it to the Queensland government and ensure that we have a solution for all of those who use Moreton Bay on a daily and weekly basis.