Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Given that in the middle of next week the entire crew and all of the staff from the SeaNet program in Australia will lose their jobs and the programs the government indicate that they are going to replace it with are not due to come on line until some further stage, given the fact that the previous coalition government gave assurances that there would be seamless transfer of funding to programs, and given that this program enjoyed the support of both the fishing sector and environment groups and was effective in reducing biocatch and protecting endangered species, when before the election did Labor tell the people of Australia, environment groups and the fishing sector that this program was going to be axed? Isn’t this just another example of Mr Peter Garrett being right when he said before the last election, ‘Once we get in, we’ll just change it all’?