Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) Share this | Hansard source

It is always a delight to take a question from the Leader of the National Party in the Senate. I acknowledge that he is a great campaigner for the interests of the fishing communities in Queensland, along with all other Queensland coalition senators. I am aware, unfortunately, of threats to the right of Queensland recreational and commercial fishers to fish in Moreton Bay. That threat, as Senator Boswell knows, is Mr Beattie and the Queensland Labor Party. Make no mistake: if Mr Beattie is re-elected, Queensland fishers will lose significant access to this great bay.

Several weeks ago the member for Bowman, Mr Andrew Laming, invited both Senator Boswell and me to a very well attended meeting that we both addressed. I think there were over 400 people at that meeting. It was interesting—all parties were invited, but guess which party squibbed on the invitation! The Labor Party know that it was them. What I told that meeting and what I say to the Senate today is this: Moreton Bay should not be closed to fishing simply to gain Greens preferences. That, unfortunately, is what will happen unless Mr Beattie is defeated on Saturday.

Mr Beattie, of course, claims that he will not close Moreton Bay to fishers. But listen to these weasel words that he uttered early last week. He said there would be no mass bans and:

There is no plan … to shut out recreational fishers from 50 per cent of Moreton Bay.

He does not say that it might be 52 per cent or 60 per cent of Moreton Bay—just that it is not 50 per cent. It might be 49 per cent or, indeed, 99 per cent of Moreton Bay. More telling is the letter that the Deputy Premier, Ms Bligh, sent to the Moreton Bay Access Alliance on the same day that Premier Beattie made that statement. That was on 2 September. The letter confirms that a review of access to the bay is under way. It is a letter which pointedly—and Senator Boswell will be very interested in this—fails to rule out any closure of access to the bay for fishers. The truth is that a deal has already been done, because the Greens spokesperson on this has already slammed the coalition policy of allowing Moreton Bay to remain open for sensible and sustainable fishing. Just recently she said that the coalition plan is in contradiction to state Labor’s plan for no-go zones. So the Greens have already let the cat out of the bag as to the deal that they have done with Labor. Of course, the Labor Party simply are not truthful enough to tell the electors of Queensland what they have in mind.

What I have said continually about fishing is this: if there is to be a closure, it should be based on good, sound scientific evidence and not on the cheap pursuit of Greens preferences. I say to the people of Queensland, especially those in the Moreton Bay area, that there is only one way to secure their fishing rights in a sustainable fishery and that is to vote for the coalition candidates on Saturday.