Sean Edwards (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

That is what you have when you put to sea with 24 boats fishing for the same fish. But what happens is that we turn it into food grade—if we were to allow this. We are going to turn it into fish for human consumption. We are going to try to feed the world. We do not want to feed the cats of the world; we do not want to fertilise the gardens of the world. We want to turn this into food grade fish. If you do it on a ship of the likes of the Abel Tasman or the Margiris, because they are big enough and have freezers, you snap freeze it and it is food grade. The Greens would deny the African nations a food source, a protein source. That is okay if you live in the leafy suburbs down there in Tasmania and you drink your lattes and have your sponge cakes on a Saturday morning after a nice pleasant week in the Senate. It is nonsense.

This is not about environmental sustainability. This is about taking fish that is already taken and, quickly and efficiently, turning it into food grade. Through you, Mr Acting Deputy President, I will be very interested to hear Senator Whish-Wilson's contribution and to hear how he can refute my claims of this efficient way of gathering.

Senator Ludwig's bill is just another intervention into everybody's lives. It is an absolute irony. In South Australia we have got these protected zones now. And when you question government officials about why they are doing it, they say, 'because they are pristine environments.' What? We are putting in marine parks because they are pristine environments? Do you know why? Because they are well managed already. Recreational fishers and commercial fishers abide by the laws. But no, the dead hand of bureaucracy has to come in and lay itself over the fishing industry. Here we are: once again the Labor Party just wants to pull back all of that and get hold of it again. Just put that uncertainty into it so that the banks will not invest. You can have your livelihood taken—like you did with the live cattle export. You can have your livelihood taken away from you overnight. If you let this bill pass in this place, that is exactly what will happen. You will have another layer of uncertainty. I conclude: I support sustainable fishing industries in South Australia and I do so today by opposing this bill.