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

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, Senator Conroy. I refer the minister to the fact that Australia has the world's third largest ocean territory, at 8.5 million square kilometres, but from our territory we extract less than 30 kilograms of marine catch per square kilometre. Because of this we import 70 per cent of our seafood from other nations. We import the most from Thailand, who extract almost 6,000 kilograms of marine catch from their oceans—more than 200 times the rate of our extraction. Why is the government simply exporting an environmental issue to another country by further shutting down Australia's fishing industry through its declaration of 1.3 million square kilometres of marine reserve parks? And what guarantees can the government give that the lower fishing production in Australia will not simply be displaced to other countries with a less enviable environmental record?