Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

It is interesting that this government talk about what we should not talk about. Let us talk about what they have failed miserably in—protecting our northern shores. If Senator Johnston wants to find out what they think, he should go up and talk to some of the fishermen in the northern parts of Australia. They think it is critical. They are worried and concerned that this government is not acting at all. That is the critical issue. Yes, Senator Johnston, we do need a national coastguard. That is a must. You fail to appreciate that this is a serious issue that is affecting our northern shores and needs to be taken seriously and addressed. This government is nothing but short and soft on border protection.

From Broome to Bamaga, there is a plague of plundering that threatens our national fish stocks and the sustainability of our large commercial fishing industry. It is a real threat of national significance, yet there is no doubt that illegal fishers do their prime damage to the families of those who work on Australian fishing fleets and in allied industries. That is where the real damage is done. But does this government seem to care? From what Senator Johnston said, it does not seem to care about it at all. Think about the environmental cost as well, in terms of the pillage that occurs. These pirates—because they are nothing else but pirates—who are stealing our fish do not respect quotas, size limits, laws on netting and by-catch, and so on, that we have put in place and that have made our commercial fishing industry a sustainable industry.

As well, think of the massive quarantine risk that can occur. These illegal fishers can land and are landing on the shores of our Australian mainland. Aboard these vessels are dogs, and animals for food such as chickens, pigs and goats. There are also plants and vegetable matter. But, instead of that, what Senator Ellison argues today and what Senator Johnston says is that the tanker was an unmanned vessel. You do not know that until you find out—until you actually go near it to see that it is unmanned. One of the first things that you would expect a good border protection agency to do is to not only say, ‘We’ve got some intelligence that there is a wandering 80-metre tanker,’ but to say who is on board, what is on board, what are they doing and where are they going—some basics that this government seems to have completely failed on getting right in this instance.

Of course, the risk is not only to our fish stocks; an obvious risk is also to our agricultural industries. If you think about it, if there is one chicken with the bird flu on board from Indonesia, you can say goodbye to both the chicken and the egg for Australia. There is a clear and present danger to both our economy and our environment. The Howard government’s response to this has been abysmal—even laughable. The problem is that the families of our commercial fishers are not laughing at all about this. They think it is very serious. They have raised it time and time again with their state governments; their state governments are doing as much as they can do about it. It requires a national response. This government is not meeting the challenge. The fishers and their families do not find it very funny that an 80-metre tanker can penetrate our so-called sophisticated border security, all the while unmanned and adrift.

We are all used to the fact that the system often cannot detect the smaller vessels that hide in mangroves and estuaries during the day to emerge only at night to continue their voracious attack on Australian fish stocks—that is one of the challenges that you have to meet—but it is truly pathetic if the system cannot detect an 80-metre tanker drifting in our waters on an erratic course dictated by wind and current. Far from being border control, this system has a hole that you could drive a tanker through. That seems to be what our border security system is now: it is that porous.

That is not the only outrage. My office has received details from the Queensland Gulf Fishermen’s Association of illegal fishers wandering ashore and even fishing upstream in the many rivers that empty into the Gulf of Carpentaria. We have all seen wells that have been dug in the Northern Territory and camps in Western Australia, and still this government maintains that it has an adequate border security system. It is just laughable.

The latest outrage is not illegal fishing but illegal hunting. There is hunting of our green sea turtles—an endangered species. These harmless creatures want nothing more than to be left alone but they typically end up being flipped on their backs and cut open along the seam where the top and bottom halves of their shell join while the creatures are still alive, and this government does nothing. (Time expired)