Ron Boswell (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of Senator Macdonald and me, I move:

That the Proclamation dated 14 May 2009 [Coral Sea Conservation Zone], made under subsection 390D(1) of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 declaring an area to be a conservation zone, be disallowed.

I rise in support of this motion to disallow the proclamation of the Coral Sea Conservation Zone that was made on 14 May under section 390D(1) of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 declaring an area to be a conservation zone. I am moving this motion on behalf of Senator MacDonald and me. Senator Macdonald is a resident of North Queensland, his office is in North Queensland, and he understands this issue very well. I have delayed this motion for a number of days to let the Independents get their minds around it. I know that they are very busy people and they are inundated with requests, so I willingly did that. But it is an important issue.

On 14 May 2009, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, Peter Garrett, proclaimed the Coral Sea Conservation Zone—972,000 square kilometres of Australian waters east of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and out to the edge of Australia’s exclusive economic zone. The Coral Sea Conservation Zone is within the proposed eastern bioregion that runs from Cape York to Batemans Bay. At present, the bioregion is under investigation by various scientific groups. Public consultation has started and dialogue with user groups has taken place. The process has been extended for a further six months and the draft plan should be ready halfway through next year. The Coral Sea Conservation Zone was declared on 14 May 2009 at the Sydney Aquarium—not in North Queensland, which it was going to affect, because it would have invoked a lot of ill feeling, but a stone’s throw from Minister Garrett’s Kingsford Smith electorate office.

The Pew Charitable Trusts has campaigned long and hard for this conservation zone to be declared. Pew is an environment group based in America and funded from America. Not only has it campaigned hard for a conservation zone; it has argued strongly that a no-take zone should be included in the Coral Sea Conservation Zone. It has the first leg of the double up if this disallowance is not carried.

The Coral Sea is a very low-volume, high-value fishery with $10 million of fish stock taken in 2006. There is no increased pressure on the fish stock in this area. The area is in pristine condition and has been for 200 years. A number of charter boats work the area. A game fishing industry works the Coral Sea for the marlin fishery, which is a catch and release fishery. It is a very important tourism operation for Cairns. Multimillionaires go to the area to partake in this catch and release fishery. They hire mother ships, which are big and expensive, and then they hire the game boats. When they are in the area, it really benefits the Cairns economy. Mr Acting Deputy President Bernardi, Senator Macdonald and I will tell you that Cairns is going through a severe economic downturn and to lose this fishery would be very difficult for the area.

The fishery supplies data to various government departments and anyone else who needs the information. There are no current or proposed oil, gas or mineral explorations or production operations in the conservation zone, despite the area having been open and available for exploration for many years. There is no threat to the environment from anywhere or anyone. Yet Minister Garrett declared this Coral Sea Conservation Zone without any consultation. This was confirmed in the estimates committee when I asked Steve Oxley, manager of the marine division, whether there had been any consultation. He assured me there had been no public consultation. The amateur and professional fishing industries were not consulted nor were any other user groups or the public. The declaration was made at the Sydney Aquarium.

An East Marine Bioregional Plan will be declared in 2010. That region will run from Cape York to Batemans Bay, just east of Canberra. The east marine bioregion will include the whole area of the Coral Sea Conservation Zone. The process for the bioregion plan is taking place as we speak. The process includes input from the general public, public meetings in various areas and consultations with user groups, environment groups, state and Commonwealth departments, marine scientists, oceanographers, fish experts and fish management experts, and all the other interested parties. It is a process designed so all parties involved will be able to place their submissions on the public record. This is an open process that has been extended for six months. This raises the question: why was the Coral Sea not dealt with in the same way, because it was supposed to happen in the same way?

The Coral Sea Conservation Zone was declared without any impact statement, without any consultation and without any scientific process, yet the whole East Marine Bioregional Plan is being extensively examined. Why was it declared on 14 May 2009 when the processes that will take place next year have not been completed? Senator Ian Macdonald asked the question in estimates: if this disallowance is carried, will it in any way impact on the assessment process of the marine protected areas or the East Marine Bioregional Plan? Steve Oxley, manager of the marine division, gave a clear, concise no to that question. Why was the Coral Sea Conservation Zone declared on 14 May when it could have waited until next year when all the investigations will be completed?

On 8 September, I placed on notice question 2122 regarding the East Marine Bioregional Plan and the Coral Sea Heritage Park. I asked what meetings had taken place and with whom. I was informed that on 19 March 2009 the department met with the Australian Conservation Foundation regarding Coral Sea conservation issues. I was told that on 14 April 2009 the department met with Pew Charitable Trusts regarding the Pew proposal for the Coral Sea Heritage Park. Two groups were consulted: the Australian Conservation Foundation and Pew Charitable Trusts. On 14 May, one month later, the minister declared the Coral Sea a conservation zone. We were told at estimates there was no public consultation. The first hint of the existence of the Coral Sea Conservation Zone was given to the Coral Sea industry stakeholders when they received Minister Garrett’s media release announcing the proposal. I do not consider that very fair.

I think everyone has the right to lobby but these were special groups. There was consultation with two groups: the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts. This is proof that the government listens to the green groups but ignores everyone else. Only the Australian Conservation Foundation and Pew got the ear of the department. Ms Zethhoven from Pew acknowledged that she had spoken to Minister Garrett, albeit a short conversation on the heritage park. No-one else got a look in—not the charter boat operators, the boating industry, the amateur and professional fishermen or the public. I submit that this was unfair. The people of North Queensland did not get a fair go. They never got a chance to express their views on their fishing areas that are adjacent to Cairns, nor did anyone who made their living from the Coral Sea. The Pew Charitable Trusts is campaigning openly for a no-take zone in the Coral Sea. Pew told Steve Oxley that that is what it wants and it has told that to many other people.

I believe that in Australia everyone has the right to lobby governments on any issue. We all get many people in our offices asking for support on many issues. That is what our system of government is all about, and I support it. Everyone should have that right. What our system of government is not about is only giving two green groups their say to the department and Ms Imojen Zethoven a meeting with the minister, even if it was only once. Peter Garrett has been captured by the green groups. This is happening more and more in state politics and federally as we see the Labor Party introducing legislation that prevents people going about their daily lives without complications and uncertainty.

Adjacent to the Coral Sea Conservation Zone in North Queensland we are seeing Aboriginal communities losing the right to use their land for farming and grazing enterprises by the introduction of the wild rivers legislation. This is just one of the many examples of legislation that is impacting on regional Australia, and it has received a lot of publicity over the past several months with Mr Pearson. It is happening in Aboriginal communities. It is happening to farmers. It is happening to the forestry industry. It is happening to beekeepers in that they are being thrown out of the forest. We are seeing Peter Garrett and his state environmental ministers surrender more and more territory to the environmental groups and the Greens. My friend and colleague Nigel Scullion, who is a master fisherman and a master mariner, will give some practical examples of how this will impact on fishermen and charter boat operators.

We are told that nothing is going to happen, we will all be free and it will be okay; everyone will be allowed in. But the charter boat operators are very worried. They are having their rights withdrawn to go into the Coral Sea zone, but they are going to be given a permit. I am told—and I think Senator Scullion will be able to expand upon this, and possibly Senator Macdonald, who is a lawyer—that a permit is a sort of—