Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The bill will improve the management of the Torres Strait fisheries, better enable monitoring of fishing activity in Commonwealth fisheries and deter illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in Australian waters.

The primary focus of the legislation is to amend the Torres Strait Fisheries Act 1984 to modernise fisheries management practices. This will make them consistent with those already in place under the Fisheries Management Act 1991 and Queensland’s Fisheries Act 1994. The Torres Strait Fisheries Act 1984 has largely operated without amendment since 1985 and a range of operational and administrative practices require greater support in legislation.

These amendments will ensure that the Australian government, including the Torres Strait Regional Authority, working in partnership with Queensland through the Torres Strait Protected Zone Joint Authority, PZJA, will be better placed to manage the commercial harvest in the Torres Strait Protected Zone fisheries. This will ensure that the Torres Strait communities, and the adjacent communities on northern Cape York, can continue to enjoy their traditional fishing rights as well as participate in the commercial fisheries.

The importance of the Torres Strait Protected Zone fisheries to the economic development of Torres Strait communities is undeniable. Commercial fishing is the primary source of non-government economic activity in the Torres Strait. It is important, therefore, that these fisheries can be managed sustainably into the future.

As I mentioned earlier, the Australian government relies on the cooperation and support of the Queensland government in managing these fisheries and in fulfilling its rights and obligations under the treaty with Papua New Guinea. Where fisheries are managed by the PZJA, this bill will provide it with the capacity to determine a management plan in the Torres Strait fisheries. This power currently sits with the Australian government minister only. The bill will enable the PZJA to implement a quota system in these fisheries. To complement this regime, the bill will also establish a register which will record all interests conferred under a plan of management.

To support these new management arrangements, the bill enhances the existing licence regime. This includes the introduction of a new fish receivers licensing regime, a requirement for fish receivers to report on product delivered to them, and the capacity to regulate people who hand fish for commercial purposes. To provide sufficient time for industry to adapt to the new licences, these aspects of the bill will commence 12 months after royal assent.

To support compliance with the new quota systems, licensing regimes and requirements to provide information, this bill also introduces penalties and, by regulation, an infringement notice scheme. These enforcement mechanisms will be consistent with those in place in other Commonwealth fisheries. The bill also provides for a demerit point regime to be introduced by regulation to deter repeat offenders.

This new management regime will better enable the Australian government to fulfil its catch-sharing obligations with Papua New Guinea as set out in the treaty. The bill amends the objectives of the Torres Strait Fisheries Act 1984 so that the objectives of the treaty are better articulated in the legislation and will ensure fisheries can be managed consistent with the requirements of the treaty.

In addition to the amendments concerning Torres Strait fisheries, the bill will also amend the Fisheries Management Act and the Fisheries Administration Act 1991. These amendments flow on from the government’s successful Securing Our Fishing Future package. This initiative has led to significant reductions in fishing effort along with a $220 million adjustment package to enable fishing operators to exit, and the associated industry to adjust. The amendments will assist AFMA to implement the ministerial direction that was made in November 2005 by enabling it to introduce a comprehensive set of management measures involving harvest strategies and enhanced monitoring of fishing. These initiatives are designed to ensure Commonwealth fish stocks are managed both sustainably and profitably in the long term.

New management measures introduced by the legislation include clarification of AFMA’s powers to place observers on board fishing vessels.

Further, the legislation will amend the Fisheries Management Act to enable AFMA to share information with environment and law enforcement agencies. This will facilitate the investigation of serious crime, fisheries and wider marine monitoring and enforcement. The type of information to be shared and the agencies with which it will be shared will be specified in regulations and, as such, be a disallowable instrument.

The bill also contains amendments to implement government policies to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in the Australian Fishing Zone, AFZ. The Australian government devotes significant resources to address the risks posed by illegal foreign fishing vessels and has announced a range of additional measures in recent years, including custodial penalties to further deter illegal incursions.

The Fisheries Management Act and the Torres Strait Fisheries Act were amended in 2006 to provide for custodial penalties ranging up to a maximum of three years for foreign fishing offences in the territorial sea of Australia. These offences reflect the inherent sovereignty violation with such incursions.

Further amendments are required to deal with evidentiary problems in securing custodial convictions. For example, it is difficult proving the fishers were aware they were fishing in Australia’s territorial sea. The bill addresses this problem by applying strict liability to this aspect of these offences, while leaving the overall offence a fault based one. The bill also makes complementary amendments to the Surveillance Devices Act 2004 to ensure that the new custodial penalty offences can be effectively investigated and prosecuted using surveillance devices. By overcoming the current impediments to prosecuting the new offences, the bill will strengthen the government’s overall policy response to illegal foreign fishing.

The bill will also strengthen forfeiture provisions, allowing for the forfeiture of the boat, catch and all equipment on a foreign fishing boat that has engaged in illegal fishing in the AFZ at the time of its seizure. These amendments are intended to further deter foreign fishers from illegally fishing in the AFZ. Knowledge by illegal foreign fishers that they may be given custodial sentences, and lose the boat, catch and all equipment any time after the offence occurs also makes it more likely that the owner will exercise vigilance to prevent the vessel being used to illegally fish in the AFZ.

Finally, the bill will amend the Fisheries Administration Act to provide certainty regarding AFMA’s governance arrangements. The Australian government has decided to establish AFMA as a commission on 1 July 2008. In keeping with this decision, the existing directors’ terms of appointment expire on 30 June 2008. The current legislation does not provide for the directors’ terms to be extended. The amendment will give the minister a temporary power to appoint the directors of AFMA for up to nine months at a time without going through the selection and appointment prescribed in the act. The power will only be exercised if AFMA does not become a commission by the proposed date and will have a sunset clause of 30 June 2009.

In summary, these amendments will improve the Australian government’s domestic fisheries management arrangements, they will support this government’s strong stance against illegal unreported and unregulated fishing and they will bolster our capacity to end overfishing in Australian waters.

I commend the bill to the House.

Debate (on motion by Mr Crean) adjourned.