Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

I have distributed to Senator McLucas and to other senators an unsigned and undated advice from the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts in relation to this definition. I will seek leave at a later time for this letter to be incorporated in Hansard so it can be used in any future hearing, regardless of what happens to either Senator Joyce’s amendment, which the opposition support, or the government’s amendment, depending on how it is dealt with by the Senate. In our dissenting report, we indicated that if you are looking at only the green zone offences then, according to this information, the existing definition is okay. Senator Joyce’s amendment deals with the wider bill and other issues. In relation to the marine park zoning issues and offences, according to this advice, to be convicted you would use the definition of ‘fishing’ in the zoning plan not the one in the act. That indicates that you actually have to take a plant, animal or marine product. The wider definition does not apply to offences under the zoning plan, according to this advice. After Senator McLucas has had an opportunity to confirm with the department that this document contains their advice and that it is accurate, I will seek leave to incorporate it into Hansard so in the future people can have that clear explanation—which I think is along the lines of what Senator McLucas just said to the Senate.

Senator Joyce’s amendment deletes ‘searching for’, and Senator McLucas gave an example of ‘searching for’ as a line over the back of a boat going through the marine park. I refer Senator McLucas to the second part of this advice from the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts in relation to ‘attempting’ under the Criminal Code, which would apply to this. The offence of attempting would, I think, cover the situation spoken of by Senator McLucas, in that if you have a line over the back you would be attempting to catch a fish. Attempting to commit any sort of offence is covered under this legislation as well as by the Criminal Code.

In support of Senator Joyce’s amendment, if a marine park tourism operator is out on the reef in a glass-bottom boat and wants to show overseas visitors a big school of fish, they would use their depth sounder on board to find some and they would say, ‘We’ll stop here and this is where you can dive in and have a look.’ The government’s proposed amendment states:

Fishing means any of the following:

                        …                   …                   …

(b) engaging in an activity including searching for fish or using fishing apparatus or using fish aggregating devices in connection with the taking or attempting to take fish.

That tourism operator may run foul of that, though I think I am answering my own question because it is in connection with taking or attempting to take fish, so perhaps my example does not apply. There could be a doubt there, so perhaps what Senator Joyce is saying is appropriate and needs to be supported.