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

I will give you the name of the boat and the owner. The owner was not there. I was talking to the deckhands and they said, ‘We will lose our jobs out of this.’ Unemployment is 17.5 per cent. I see that Senator McLucas is going to take some part in the debate. Tell me what the government is doing about 17.5 per cent unemployment in Cairns. What are they going to do? They are going to knock off one of the few remaining profitable industries on the Cairns waterfront. That is what this regulation is all about.

I will look now at the proclamation. It says:

The environmental significance of the Coral Sea derives from the globally unique assemblage of scattered coral reefs, seamounts, atolls, abyssal plains, deep sea canyons and islands and the extent to which the region’s natural and heritage values have remained relatively undisturbed by direct human impact.

Hang on! This is the area they want to save with a conservation zone, but they are saying that it is ‘relatively undisturbed by direct human impact’. What is going to change in the next year or two that is going to alter that? It is so pristine that after 100 years of being used by the marlin boat operators, the few fishermen who are out there, the scuba divers and anyone else, it is still in a pristine state that remains relatively undisturbed by direct human impact. So what are we trying to correct with this conservation zone?

I say to those senators who might be wavering: here we are with a process in place—the marine regional process—which, as Senator Siewert rightly said, requires the government to consult with everybody, to take them with them and to listen to what they might say about unintended consequences. That process is in place. So why come in in the middle of that and slap this conservation zone on it—a conservation zone that will impact upon the investment potential, the investment confidence, of those still investing in the marine industries in Cairns. I can assure the Senate that were the coalition in power we would continue with the bioregional planning process—and Greg Hunt, the shadow minister for the environment has asked me to make this point. We, after all, started it and we understand the importance of it. But we want to take people with us. We want to make it a multiuser park. Senator Siewert is throwing in things about these sunken ships. Well, thanks, Senator Siewert, but you know better than I that they are already protected by the Historic Shipwrecks Act. You do not need this conservation zone for that, and you know it.

I say to you that the amount of research done out in the Coral Sea—and I know this from the time when I was fisheries minister—is absolutely minimal. I know AIMS, that great institution, tries to do some work, but they are starved of funds and are unable to do it. Do you know who does the most research out there in the Coral Sea? Do you know who tells them where the sea mounts are? Do you know who tells them where the tuna are running—but that is not important because they do not fish for tuna? Do you know who tells them where the marlin are running when they come in—with which tide and which current? Do you know who provides all of this information to the research agencies? It is the charter boats; it is the marlin boats. They are the ones who go out and catch fish, tag and release them and then when they are caught again in a couple of years time they read the tag and take the information and pass it back to the research agencies. It is those boats that are doing the only data collection out there. And this silly regulation actually wants those people to be stopped. Sure, they say, ‘Oh, we will give them a permit anyhow and we are not going to charge them any money.’ Well, why bother if that is the case?

This is the thin end of the wedge. It does not need to be done. We do not want another great conflict like we had at the Traveston Crossing dam—I see Senator Bob Brown here; he ran both sides of the fence on the Traveston Crossing dam, you might recall. We do not want that sort of conflict in environmental issues. We want people to be taken with us, together.

Mr Acting Deputy President McGauran, I think there is someone breaching standing orders by wandering around the chamber. Perhaps it was the person who I mentioned had walked both sides of the fence with the Traveston Crossing dam—on one occasion he opposed it and floated down the river and on the other occasion he gave preferences to the government that wanted to build it. But I know independent senators and others who are listening to this will not be distracted by a pretty obvious ploy by the Greens leader to distract their attention.

The data is there. We want to take people with us to make sure that we get an arrangement in the Coral Sea that has universal support—and it can happen. Ms Zethoeven, for whom I have some regard as a person in a social capacity, is saying: ‘The fishermen would like to get out of there. Give them four or five million dollars for their licences and they will be out tomorrow.’ But, hang on—this arrangement does not provide four or five million dollars for a fishing licence; in fact, it provides nothing. It tries to give them a permit which could well impact on any compensation that might come or be able to be insisted upon if this should eventually become part of the bioregional marine planning process.

We do not want to confiscate people’s licences without reward, so let’s have a look. I think Senator Scullion is full bottle on this, and he will be talking shortly. Is it the case that, when a permit is given, you are then taking away or giving by government grant a right that has existed under the fisheries act for some time and which, if taken away, might entitle those fishermen to some compensation? Why do this? That is the bit I cannot understand.

I have demonstrated that it is a pristine area already. It is there, it is so pristine, everybody wants to preserve it. So why bother? The marine planning process is going to continue. If the Australian public decides to get rid of this government at the next election, which I hope it will do, I can assure you that the next government will continue the process that the Howard government started—that is, the marine protected areas and the bioregional planning process.

We were the first government in the world to start the marine planning process. That was an initiative of the Howard government and it will continue with the Turnbull government. We are very proud of that. There is no doubt that we will continue it, but we will do it in conjunction with all of those people involved. We will do it in conjunction with the fishermen. We will do it in conjunction with the marlin boat operators. We will do it in conjunction with the conservationists.

I think at times that Ms Zethoeven has a belief—and I do not want to verbal her here—that the ends sometimes justify the means. In this case you can get to the ends, but you can get to them by taking everyone with you. Someone should have a look at the regulations themselves. I did; I used to be a lawyer. The regulations that this proclamation brings into play, and I know that Senator Scullion is going to talk about this, are quite horrific. Why bother? Why go through it all? Why cause that division? It is not necessary. By the time the bioregional planning process comes around, it might be a year. It might be two years. It might be three years. But it is on the way. It is happening now.