Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also wish to speak on the motion to take note of this resolution. I do not want to enter into Western Australian issues as such; although, this is about Western Australia. I just want to bring a reality check to the debate.

Shark lines have been in place in Queensland for most of my lifetime. I remember, when I was a youngster, there used to be shark fatalities along Queensland beaches. As you all know, Queensland has some of the best beaches in the world. Whilst I come from the north and we are always very proud in the north, the one thing we do not have a lot of is good sandy beaches like you have in the south of Queensland—around the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast. But even up our way, where people go into the water there are shark lines. And do you know what? There has not been a fatality for years. Touch wood!

I have often said when issues arise about crocodiles: if it is the life of a crocodile against the life of a human being, I will always go for the human being. Where crocodiles are in areas inhabited by human beings, I think they should be removed. I am delighted to say that the current Queensland government, unlike the previous Labor government, has adopted a practice where crocodiles in populated areas are removed. The same thing happens to those crocodiles as happened to them under the previous government—that is, they are put out of sight and out of mind for a few days, and then sold to either an abattoir or a zoo. That is not what this issue is about. But the issue of human life is the same. It has become a very popular political issue in Western Australia. It has allowed the Greens and their cohorts a hook with which to attack the Barnett government, because, as you know, the Greens are agents of the Labor Party, and they will do anything possible to get rid of a very successful, progressive, good government, which is a sound financial manager, in Western Australia. The Greens will take any opportunity to do that. The latest thing the Greens can talk about is the great white sharks. Again, I wonder where the Greens are at when it comes to these things off the Queensland coast or off the New South Wales coast—

Senator Siewert interjecting—

It is not popular there anymore. It has all been happening for 50 years. People accept it because they believe that human life is more important. But in Western Australia it is a new thing. They can make a bit of political capital out of it, so they think, 'Let's have a go at it'.