Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As Peter Dodds McCormack wrote in our national anthem Advance Australia Fair, 'Our home is girt by sea'. But it is a sea much larger than he could ever have imagined in the 1870s. Thanks to international agreements, Australia now has responsibility for oceans double our 7.7 million square kilometres of land. Only the oceans of Canada and France are larger. Australia's oceans are big but their size is not all that matters. They are special for many other reasons. The area of our marine environment brings together three of the world's most important oceans—the Southern, the Indian and the Pacific.

Different depths, temperatures, salinities, light, circulation and seabeds create habitats that support unique and globally significant ocean life. According to the 2010 International Census of Marine Life, Australia has the most diverse oceans in the world with 32,889 plant and animal species, and scientists believe this may only be 10 to 20 per cent of the species that call our oceans home.

Australia has the world's largest area of coral reefs, the largest single reef—the Great Barrier Reef—and the largest seagrass meadow, in Shark Bay. We also have the third-largest area of mangroves and more than half of the world's mangrove and seagrass species. Our oceans provide life support for six of the seven known species of marine turtles, 45 of the world's 78 whale and dolphin species, and 4,000 fish species, which is 20 per cent of the global total. Most countries with a coastline have one or perhaps two climate zones that influence their ocean life. Here in Australia we have the lot—tropical, subtropical, temperate, subantarctic and antarctic. In the tropical north, coral reefs, extensive tidal flats, seagrass meadows and mangroves fill the seascape, shelter the shoreline and provide critical habitats for Australia's rich tropical ocean life. Moving south, the water temperatures gradually decline. Subtropical waters are wedged between the tropical and temperate zones, where they are shaken and stirred into a remarkable living cocktail. Ocean life is very different in the cooler temperate zone along Australia's southern coast. The biodiversity in this area is found nowhere else in the world and at unmatched levels. This includes 70 per cent of macro-algae such as seaweeds, 80 per cent of fish and 90 per cent of animals like sea stars and molluscs. Way down south, the cold restricts most ocean life to subantarctic islands, the coast of Antarctica and nearby waters.

Our big oceans have a broad range of water depths down to more than 7,000 metres. Great mystery surrounds the ocean life in Australia's deepwater mountain ranges and massive submerged canyons. Some, like the Perth Canyon off the coast of my Fremantle electorate, are larger than the Grand Canyon in the United States. Perth Canyon is one of only three feeding grounds in Australia's oceans for blue whales, the largest animals ever to have lived on the planet. Much of Australia's ocean life is found nowhere else; most of it we are yet to discover, and there is a great deal to be learnt from what we have and have not found. Over the millennia, Australia's oceans have become the lifeblood of the nation, pumping oxygen into our lungs and water into our veins. They are a constant force within our lives. The future of the ocean and of our way of life and our economy are inseparable.

Our oceans provide us with food. In Australia 500 ocean species are commercially harvested and worth more than $2 billion each year. Seagrass meadows and mangroves in estuaries, where our oceans meet our rivers, are critical for commercial and recreational fishing. In Queensland up to 75 per cent by weight of the commercial fish catch is estuarine. Of course, we know our oceans are good for our health. Why else would we call the summer afternoon ocean breeze that cools down Fremantle and Perth the 'Fremantle Doctor'? Australia's oceans are also at the forefront of the fight against human disease. Drugs derived from sponges, cone snails and bioluminescent bacteria are helping battle cancer, HIV-AIDS, chronic pain and bacterial infections.

Where our oceans meet the shore mangroves, it is the beaches, sand dunes and coral reefs that protect coastal communities from wave attack and storms, while seagrass meadows process wastes. Australia's oceans store 'blue carbon' in seagrass meadows, mangroves and seaweeds. If the world's nations stopped the loss of blue carbon from oceans and 'green carbon' from forests and woodlands, they would mitigate up to 25 per cent of greenhouse pollution. Our oceans are in many ways the foundation of the Australian lifestyle. Most of us choose to live by the seaside—indeed, 85 per cent live within 50 kilometres of the coast—all of us would visit the coast at some point for holidays or recreation and about five million of us fish. And of course Australia's oceans drive the economy. The annual oceans based industries of fisheries, petroleum, shipping and tourism were estimated by the Australian Institute of Marine Science in 2008 to be worth $38 billion. So, rather than just 'girting' our home, Australia's oceans are part of its foundations and fundamental to our economy, culture, traditions and lifestyle.

Our oceans have given us a life and a lifestyle, but what have we given them in return? Polluted estuaries, bleached corals, underwater waste dumps, reductions in fish numbers, broken coastal habitats, introduced marine pests, the ongoing loss of mangroves, seagrass meadows, salt marshes and kelp forests, and now climate change—the list goes on. Whether we are politicians, conservationists, oil producers, commercial and recreational fishers, scientists, teachers, divers, ship owners, tourist operators or beachcombers, we must acknowledge that the oceans belong to each and every one of us. We all have a stake in creating a better future for them.

Science tells us our oceans are in trouble but it also shows us what has to be done—the charting of a new course that can recover our ocean life in this generation and protect our marine ecosystems for the generations to come. The first big step in this journey is the establishment of a network of large marine sanctuaries in Australia's oceans. Evidence is building in Australia and around the world that allowing some ocean areas to be free from fishing and other extractive uses is an essential conservation tool. This is not only true in the tropics but in temperate waters too. Marine scientist Ben Halpern reviewed 112 studies and 80 marine protected areas and discovered that fish populations and fish size all dramatically increased inside reserves and that that ocean life spilled over to nearby fished areas. In another study, sanctuary zones around the Palm and Whitsunday islands in Queensland were shown to contain around four to six times the density and abundance of coral trout compared to similar fished areas. Within Jervis Bay Marine Park, red morwong have shown a significant increase in abundance and size distribution in sanctuary zones relative to fished areas. In my own electorate of Fremantle, the sanctuary zones around Rottnest Island have densities of spiny lobster 34 times higher than in fished areas. They also have higher lobster size and egg production than the fished areas contain, while numbers of Western Australian dhufish are five to 10 times greater and breaksea cod three times greater.

Marine sanctuaries can also become sites for scientific research and help build understanding of ocean ecology, fishing impacts and how to improve fisheries management. It is without question that they help stabilise fisheries that exist beyond their boundaries. Marine sanctuaries can aid overfished and threatened species recover their populations and create jobs in their management and encourage increased tourism, recreation, research and education. Marine sanctuaries can store blue carbon where mangroves and seagrasses are protected and they therefore build the resilience of ocean life to climate change.

To help protect and recover Australia's ocean life, it is critical that we establish marine sanctuaries in our oceans. Their size, number and location should be based on solid science and the proper consideration of the region's social, economic and cultural values. It is critical that sufficient funds are set aside to ensure that those commercial fishers affected by an increase in the protection of our oceans are given the necessary assistance and support.

Polling indicates that the creation of marine sanctuaries will receive support from most Australians, even from recreational fishers. Two years after the 2004 rezoning of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which increased the percentage of the park free of fishing to 33 per cent, James Cook University surveyed the views of recreational fishers. Most thought the rezoning was a good idea and that it had either no effect or a positive effect on their fishing. When Recfish Australia recently polled recreational fishers it found that, if they were no longer able to fish in an area that had become a sanctuary, they would feel comfortable about simply finding somewhere else nearby to fish. In survey results released just last week by Patterson Market Research it was found that almost two-thirds of West Australians support protecting at least 30 per cent of the waters that constitute their big blue backyard in the form of marine sanctuaries. In the same poll, six out of 10 West Australians who regularly fish believe marine life is in decline and an even greater number, 72 per cent, support the creation of marine sanctuaries to protect fish stocks and other marine life.

But resolving the issue of too little protection in our oceans goes further than simply creating marine sanctuaries. We must also tackle the other threats that are facing our ocean life, including loss of habitats, introduced marine pests, water pollution and climate change. As well as protecting ocean life, this will also protect those elements of our economy and lifestyle that depend on healthy oceans: our beach and oceans, our recreational and commercial fishing, and our ocean based tourism. Having well-protected and healthy oceans that are sustainably used is, I am sure, a desire of all members of this House, and I urge everyone's support for a network of large marine sanctuaries in Australia's oceans.

Mal Washer (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is an absolute privilege to support the member for Fremantle on this important issue. The establishment of marine sanctuaries is aimed at improving the management of the whole of the marine ecosystems, including the interaction of people and industry with marine environments and species. Very little is known about Australia's oceans, especially in the deeper water where demersal fishing occurs. Marine sanctuaries include important areas such as feeding, breeding and foraging habits of unique and threatened species. It is believed that stocks will recover within the reserve and the spill over of these species will help the sustainability of recreational and commercial fishing. Researchers also suggest that closing reef areas to fishing can delay the effects of one of their biggest threats—climate change. Such marine reserves may give reefs a fighting chance.

My electorate of Moore in Western Australia overlooks the Indian Ocean. It is a beautiful stretch of coastline of long and sandy beaches. Running along three-quarters of the electorate's coastal boundary is the Marmiom Marine Park. Established in 1987, it was the first marine park in Western Australia's state waters and aims to protect the diverse ocean life of the local limestone reefs and islands. The park has become a very popular spot, with Perth people making more than 1½ million visits each year to swim, boat, fish, snorkel and dive. At Hillarys Marina, the Aquarium of Western Australia is a great place to spend a few hours and marvel at WA's remarkable ocean life in huge tanks. Some of that life is found in the Marmion Marine Park.

If I were to stand and face west and look down to the rocks and water's edge, across the surf break and the Little Island sanctuary zone to the horizon and then imagine travelling 350 kilometres, all I would see would be Australia's oceans. As the member for Fremantle has already pointed out, our oceans are big and under international law we are charged with the responsibility of looking after them. As my eyes travelled across those waters to the west, I might see some juvenile southern bluefin tuna heading south from their only known spawning ground, in Western Australia's Kimberley region. They travel past my electorate and the electorates of Fremantle and Forrest on their way down to Cape Leeuwin, in our state's south-west corner. There the young tuna must choose which way to go—east or west. Some head west but most turn east—a decision tuna have been making for aeons. It is locked into their DNA.

The South-west Marine Region stretches from Kalbarri to Kangaroo Island. It is the focus of the federal government's regional marine planning process and a draft marine plan has just been released for 90-day public consultation. Like the choice for juvenile southern bluefin tuna, the government is deciding which way we should go in our oceans. For the government, though, the choice is over the direction to take oceans protection. This process has its origins with the Howard government's release of Australia's Oceans Policy in 1998, the same year I entered federal parliament.Australia's Oceans Policy was released to wide acclaim and ushered in an extended period of marine research, community and stakeholder consultation and oceans protection.It is now 13 years since the policy's release—13 years since I stood here and addressed this House in my maiden speech.Preparing for today made me think back to that first speech and what might be relevant now. In one section I said:

Tourism is set to be a major business in the electorate, taking advantage of our exquisite coastline which stretches in pristine condition for many kilometres. New marinas in the future will no doubt mirror the success of existing marinas at Hillarys and Mindarie, which producevaluable tourist dollars.

Environmental tourism is becoming more important to the electorate and more marine parks need to be established. Hopefully we will establish marine research facilities along the coastline to improve coastal management and engage in effluent research, sea safety and pollution control. Marmion Marine Park has now been joined by others in WA's state waters. As well as the wonderful aquarium at Hillarys Marina there are also the laboratories of the WA Department of Fisheries , where important marine research is now being conducted. I am very pleased to see increased protection for WA waters, but it is now time to turn our attention to creating a network of Commonwealth marine reserves in what some have called Western Australia's 'big blue backyard'.

The aquarium at Hillarys Marina , AQWA , has ocean life from each marine ecosystem in state waters. Variations in geology and coastal alignment, water temperature and water depth create different habitats for an amazing diversi ty of marine plants and animals, most found nowhere but here. This month's release of the draft south-west marine plan is a remarkable opportunity to establish protection for a representative sampling of ocean ecosystems in our big blue backyard —j ust like one big aquarium , this time an oceanarium. Putting a marine reserve network in place can also help prevent problems occurring in some of our state waters. Members outside of Western Australi a might not have heard of the 'v ulnerable f ive'. No, they are not a group of endangered superheroes but five species of WA fish that are in trouble due to overfishing. We need to create some places free of fishing to help stabilise and rebuild their numbers. There is even general acceptance among recreational fishers that this would be a good initiative. Other problems for our state waters have included water pollution from catchment run - off and groundwater tainted by urban development, the loss of seagrass meadows— the nurseries of the sea — and fish kills from algal blooms.

The c oalition has a proud record of protecting the health of our oceans. After the release of its Oceans Policy and the establishment of the regional marine planning process, the Howard g overnment began the building of a remarkable oceans protection legacy. The internationally acclaimed rezoning of the Great Barrier Reef, which increased marine national park zones from five per cent to 33 per cent of the park, is the highlight. But the legacy also includes marine reserves at Macquarie Island and Heard and McDonald Islands and in the South-East Marine Region.

We cannot ignore the tireless campaigns of successive Howard government environment ministers to see the end of commercial whaling. This was borne out of the Fraser government's ending of commercial whaling in Australian waters—the last whaling station to close in Australia was at Cheynes Beach, near Albany, in the federal electorate of O'Connor in 1978. With the rezoning of the Great Barrier Reef, the Howard government led the world in oceans protection and encouraged other leaders like George W Bush to follow with very large marine reserves. For example, the 364,000 square kilometre Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument was signed into law in 2006, Kiribati created the 410,000 square kilometre Phoenix Island Protected Area in 2008, while the UK government created the Chagos Islands Marine Reserve of 540,000 square kilometres in 2010.

Australia now needs to again set the pace by establishing networks of Commonwealth marine reserves in the south-west, north-west, north and east marine regions, and within those networks there should be a system of marine sanctuaries or marine national park zones. The best available science, and the scientific consensus, is definitely on the side of the sanctuaries. The member for Fremantle has already mentioned the success of the sanctuary zones at Rottnest Island. In the Abrolhos Islands, about 400 kilometres north of Perth, fish abundance was up to eight times higher in areas closed to fishing compared with fished areas. There are many other examples in Australia and overseas where marine sanctuaries have had a very positive effect on ocean life. Last year 245 international marine scientists outlined their rationale for very large marine sanctuaries, and during the 2010 federal election 152 Australian scientists sought support from the Labor and coalition parties for sanctuary networks to reverse the decline of our ocean life.

I encourage my colleagues on this side of the House to support the rollout of Commonwealth marine reserves and marine sanctuaries and work to ensure that sufficient funding is allocated to assist displaced commercial fishers and affected regional communities as Australia moves towards further increasing the protection of its oceans.

Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his contribution, and I do remember that speech from 13 years ago.

Kelvin Thomson (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Just like national parks on land, marine national parks are places in the sea where wildlife and their habitats are fully protected. Marine national parks are essential to protect the ocean's rich diversity of life. They are havens which allow fish to spawn and grow, and they protect vulnerable species. Marine national parks also provide us with places to visit, research and get a sense of what the ocean was like before the emergence of industrialised fishing.

For the protection of oceans, the 2003 World Parks Congress in Durban recommended to governments that they establish networks of marine protected areas free of fishing. The deadline for implementation of the recommendations is 2012, consistent with the protected area network recommendations from the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, which I attended, and meetings of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Australia has been slowly developing its National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas over the past two decades. Thanks to large protected areas in the Great Barrier Reef, Macquarie Island and Heard and McDonald Islands, about 10 per cent of the exclusive economic zone is covered by marine protected areas. But only half of that is marine sanctuary level protection, with most in the tropics and subantarctic areas. The figure is even lower when we consider the four marine regions—south-west, north-west, north, and east, including the Coral Sea—which are currently part of the Gillard government's regional marine planning which continues the process begun by the Howard government. Less than one per cent of these regions have marine sanctuary level protection. This is vastly different from the National Reserve System, which over the past century or more has been expanded to give some protection to about 13 per cent of our land surface. No-one in this House should accept that one per cent is anywhere near enough to protect the ocean life of our marine regions. Australian scientists believe that even 10 per cent protection is too low to reverse the decline of our ocean life. They believe that protection levels similar to that of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park—33 per cent in marine sanctuary level protection—are needed to protect and recover our ocean life.

At the 2010 election, the Gillard government committed to give sanctuary level protection to the important and special areas of our oceans. These should include breeding, feeding and spawning places, iconic areas and critical habitats. The South-West Marine Region, stretching from Kalbarri to Kangaroo Island, is the focus of the Gillard government's first regional marine plan and the draft was released earlier this month. The government is using the regional marine plans to expand the National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas and include zones with varying levels of protection. The percentage of the regions covered by the network, and the size, number and location of marine sanctuaries within it, as the member for Fremantle has noted, need to be based on the best available science and the careful consideration of social, economic and cultural values.

Although the government's decision-making journey begins in the South-West Marine Region, the direction it chooses for the region's conservation values will set the course for the other marine regions of the next 12 months. If the private member's bill on regional planning currently in the Senate were to become law and make the marine reserve declarations disallowable, all of that certainty would disappear and the community's faith in the regional marine planning process would be shattered. It would also waste all of the money, time and other resources thus far spent and move us no closer to protecting our oceans.

The Australian government has international and national obligations to protect Australia's oceans. Through the current regional marine planning process, we need to establish a network of Commonwealth marine reserves by the end of 2012 with the conservation of ocean life and cultural values as its core objective. Of critical importance is education and capacity building in Indigenous communities. The engagement of traditional owners must be at the heart of the planning, protection and management of their sea country.

My electorate of Wills does not have any coast, but it is bordered by the Moonee Ponds Creek and the Merri Creek, which flow into the Yarra River which in turn enters Port Phillip Bay. I am acutely aware that what we do in the catchments of our coasts and oceans can have major impacts on our ocean life and recreational and commercial activities. Over the years I have been personally involved in actions to improve the water quality of these creeks and to reduce pollution loads going into Port Phillip Bay. We need to be doing this right across the country. But the most important step we can take right now for the future health of our oceans is the establishment of a national network of large marine sanctuaries. I urge members of this House to support the motion.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The coalition began establishing marine protected areas in Australia's territorial waters when it was last in government. The coalition remains committed to the responsible development of marine protected areas to protect iconic marine environmental assets. But we do hold deep reservations about how federal Labor has managed the continuation of the policy since it has been in government. The recreational and commercial fishing sectors, as well as the businesses and communities reliant upon them, have raised serious and justified concerns about a lack of consultation and, dare I say, green bias from Labor. Labor's marine protected areas process is secretive and skewed towards satisfying extreme green groups.

The coalition will put on hold the marine protected areas process until it really properly delivers a bigger, better, fairer say for recreational and commercial fishers, and associated industries and communities, in all stages of the process. The coalition suggests that new bioregional advisory panels be appointed for each marine bioregion to provide the vehicle for this expanded industry and community consultation. In line with pre-existing coalition policy and practice, we believe that we need to genuinely seek to minimise socioeconomic impacts of marine protected areas. All marine protected area proposals should be accompanied by a comprehensive, publicly available, socioeconomic impact statement.

Peer reviewed science used in the development of MPAs and any associated no-take zones must be made publicly available in a timely way and be considered by all the necessary agencies and panels. Where consultation and negotiation cannot reduce impacts of proposed MPAs below levels that are reasonably compensable, then compensation, structural adjustment or other appropriate measures need to be delivered before any constraints are implemented. The displaced effort policy needs to be reviewed by a ministerial panel jointly chaired by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities.

After the announcement of its oceans policy and the establishment of the regional marine planning process, the Howard government started developing a visionary oceans protection legacy. The highlight of this, as was stated in the Main Committee just this morning, was the rezoning of the Great Barrier Reef, endorsed worldwide. But the legacy of other significant marine reserves has also been a major plus for this country and, indeed, the global environment. What must also be noted is the relentless campaigns of successive Howard government environment ministers to see the end of commercial whaling. This was born out of the Fraser government's ending of commercial whaling in Australian waters. The last whaling station to close, as has been stated, did so way back in 1978. With the rezoning of the Great Barrier Reef, the Howard government led the world in oceans protection and encouraged other international leaders to protect the oceans.

The coalition will seek to hold the Gillard government to account over marine planning by ensuring the declaration of marine parks is subject to parliamentary scrutiny. Currently, the environment minister can declare marine reserves, with potentially major ramifications for all users of the ocean across this vast area, at the mere stroke of a pen. It is outrageous that a single minister can make far-reaching decisions over waters extending to the edge of Australia's exclusive economic zone, or EEZ, without the necessary checks and balances. The Gillard government is continuing a process for the development of marine reserves in the EEZ which began under the coalition. The government's consultation process has been minimalistic, especially under the former environment minister, Mr Garrett, who demonstrably favoured green organisations over all other affected interest groups. Green groups, and conservationists generally, deserve a say in the process but so too do the tens of thousands of people who have a deep stake in the ocean environment for their livelihood and their leisure activities. The reserves will contain potentially large areas where many activities will be totally banned. The best available science and consultation with all stakeholders, including fishers, needs to be used in any marine park decisions.

Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Fremantle for bringing this motion to the House. I believe the motion, which is quite lengthy, covers very well the critical issues relating to the development of marine conservation parks. I want to refer in particular to subparagraphs (a), (b) and (c) in paragraph (1) of the motion. Subparagraph (a) talks about only one per cent of some key areas in Australia being currently protected sections. Subparagraph (b) talks about the fact that where you have marine parks in place fish populations ultimately increase. Subparagraph (c) talks about the importance of marine sanctuaries in preserving the ocean life we have, which in turn goes on to benefit both commercial and recreational fishers.

I have had some personal experience of the establishment of a marine conservation park in my home state of South Australia. I was a member of the advisory committee that established a dolphin sanctuary in Gulf St Vincent, just outside of Adelaide, and I then went on to serve as a board member on that sanctuary. I can well recall that the arguments in debates that were put up then were similar to some of those that I have just heard from members opposite on this issue. There were concerns about recreational and commercial fisheries. I say that when the process is properly managed the ultimate outcome is, in fact, one that benefits everyone concerned. It becomes a win-win situation. All the fears and scaremongering that went on at the time that that conservation park was being established proved to be unfounded. In fact, the coastal area of Adelaide, which is probably the biggest fish breeding ground for our state, is reviving and we are getting better fish numbers and, as a result of that, everyone is becoming a winner.

We have built our national identity and lifestyle around our oceans and coast. We know our oceans are great because we have got great places to prove it: the Great Barrier Reef, the Great Sandy Strait, the Great Ocean Road, Great Keppel Island, Great Oyster Bay, Great Palm Island and the Great Australian Bight. The Great Australian Bight is in my patch of ocean off the South Australian coast in the South-West Marine Region, which stretches 1.2 million square kilometres from Kangaroo Island to Kalbarri in Western Australia. I note it is a region that the South Australian government is also looking at in terms of developing marine parks or sanctuaries or conservation areas along that coastline. The marine region is the first of four in which the Gillard government will establish networks of Commonwealth marine reserves by the end of 2012. This comes at the same time as the South Australian government is finalising its own marine parks network. So what are the iconic places and ocean life that should be given high-level protection in the four marine regions? Let me take you on a quick tour. The mixed seagrass, sand and limestone reefs at the head of the Great Australian Bight provide a nursery for the threatened southern right whale. The bight's extensive shelf is covered in sands, and the many animals that filter water for their food—sponges, ascidians and bryozoans—make this one of the world's most diverse soft-sediment ecosystems. Blue whales come to feed at canyon upwellings near Kangaroo Island. So do school sharks, fur seals and Australian sea lions.

Further west, the deepest waters in Australia's oceans are found in the Diamantina Fracture—more than seven kilometres deep. Its isolation, complex seafloor shape, mixing of currents and great depths are likely to support unique ocean life. Rounding the south-west corner of Australia, the seagrass meadows of Geographe Bay attract loggerhead turtles, resting humpback whales and a mix of tropical and temperate ocean life that feeds, breeds and lives in the area.

The Abrolhos Islands almost mark the end of the South-West Marine Region and it is here where the warm Leeuwin Current has created a remarkable mix of tropical and temperate ocean life. Shark Bay is at the beginning of the North-West Marine Region, which extends over one million square kilometres to the Northern Territory border. Shark Bay has one of the largest dugong populations in the world, and Ningaloo Reef near Exmouth is the longest fringing barrier reef in Australia.

We have been protecting rivers, forests, mountains, canyons, plateaus and national parks on land for more than a century. It has taken us all that time to realise that we now need to protect the currents, kelp forests, sea mountains, underwater canyons, plateaus and other iconic areas in our oceans. There is some catching up to do, but by the end of 2012 the Gillard government will have established a network of Commonwealth marine reserves in each of the four regions. High-level protection of marine sanctuaries must be a critical component of those reserves. (Time expired)

Barry Haase (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I find myself speaking on a motion moved by Ms Parke, the Labor member for Fremantle. At first I thought she was another puppet for Senator Brown and the Greens, until I did a little research on Ms Parke. Now I think that perhaps she would have stood as a Green had she not been standing for the electorate of Fremantle, a traditional Labor stronghold. I am quite sure Ms Parke could not have dreamt of a better parliament—Labor in government and the Greens in power. This 43rd Parliament allows Ms Parke to thrust her latte-coated opinions into the arena to appease the Greens without, she hopes, upsetting her voters.

Her first speech in federal parliament, given on 14 February 2008, contains the word 'indifference' six times, not including when the word was used in reference to a book titled My War Against Indifference. The definition of indifference can best be conveyed as a lack of interest, concern or sympathy—and the member seems to be standing by what is obviously one of her favourite and most self-descriptive words. She is showing indifference to the people in my patch and hers, although I am quite sure the member would not refer to her coffee strip as a patch.

Commercial fishing is worth $400 million to the Western Australian economy every year, and a lot of that goes through her port of Fremantle, the very same port from which in 1922 her great-grandfather John Stanley Parke and his son George were the first people to export Granny Smith apples to the world. I wonder what her forebears would think if they knew her mob had sold out the apple industry and all but endorsed the draft recommendations of Biosecurity Australia which advise that business as usual for New Zealand growers will qualify them to export apples into our country dripping with fire blight. I wonder what her great-grandfather would say if he could see her trying to stop a Western Australian primary industry for the sake of appeasing the greenies that are infiltrating the seat of Fremantle at a rate faster than a fishing boat trying to get back to shore before a storm. I do not mind the odd flutter, but I never hedge my own bets. I would hazard a guess as to her attitude regarding iron ore being transported through Fremantle, even though it is transported in containers. Don't get me wrong; I support the balanced approach to marine conservation. In fact, it was the coalition who began the process of establishing an integrated network of marine protected areas around Australia's coastline when previously in government. However, I do not support a government that has not been involved in extensive and cooperative consultation examining both the protection of biodiversity and a process to minimise social and economic impact on fishers, businesses and their communities.

This motion deeply concerns me, although there is one point of particular concern, and that is the provision of sufficient funding for the transition of commercial fishers' activities displaced by the establishment of marine parks. Correct me if I am wrong, but I have it on the very good authority of Guy Leyland, acting CEO of the West Australian Fishing Industry Council, that the member has not met or arranged to meet with anyone in Fremantle associated with the commercial fishing industry to discuss the impact of marine parks and displacement compensation. The Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water Pollution and Community, SEWPAC, has not included in their budget anything for displacement compensation. The budget allocation is for administration purposes of rezoning only. In fact, the rumoured word back from the industry is that the best case scenarios of compensation from SEWPAC are gross underestimates based on catch figures from 2006. History shows us the lack of consultation between bureaucrats and fishermen has led to bitterness and uncertainty. My fishermen are nervous and they have every right to be. Their financial future is at stake and the member and her Green friends are indifferent to their livelihoods. History also shows us that the compensation bill paid to businesses affected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park blew out from $10 million to $250 million.

The fishing life is not a life for everyone but for those in the industry it is a life they are committed to and more often than not one that their family before them was also committed to. It is a life that takes its physical and emotional toll. Fishermen have to know where the fish are, how to catch them and how to sell them. They have to know the sea and be prepared for all possible outcomes. Now they need to be prepared for marine parks, with little or no consultation and in all probability little compensation for their family business. Marine parks and conservation are fine, but not without effective consultation and compensation. This current proposition looks like another harebrained Labor scheme, ill considered and designed only to appease Senator Brown and his dwindling band.

Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.