Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Let’s go to the impact of the Coral Sea Conservation Zone on activities in the area. Recreational and commercial fishing are unaffected by the Coral Sea Conservation Zone. They will continue to be managed under the relevant existing Commonwealth and Queensland regulations. Commercial tourist operations, including charter fishing, require a permit. These are issued by the environment department free of charge and—this is important—they are transferable. There has been misinformation spread in Cairns, particularly amongst the fishing sector, to say that they are not; but they are transferable.

Can I also say that in Senator Boswell’s press release of 19 August, he intentionally misled anyone who read it. He said that his disallowance motion ‘will stop the Coral Sea heritage park from going ahead’. As we know, that is plainly misleading and incorrect. All along Senator Boswell has attempted to conflate the government’s Coral Sea Conservation Zone, in which fishing can continue, with the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Coral Sea heritage park, which does propose an end to fishing. As I have said, we are not contemplating adopting Pew’s proposal. The facts are that the Coral Sea heritage park is a proposal from a coalition of non-government organisations. It was not given effect at all by the declaration of the Coral Sea Conservation Zone.

Now that the motion has been defeated the assessment will continue under the east marine bioregion process. The coalition has attempted to argue that the Coral Sea Conservation Zone is universally opposed by fishing interests. This is far from correct. On 19 May the Queensland Seafood Industry Association, the peak industry body in Queensland, issued a media release welcoming the announcement of the Coral Sea Conservation Zone, noting that it is committed to playing an active role with the Australian government to protect the marine environment in the region. The government appreciates the constructive role that QSIA is playing. (Time expired)