Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Hansard source

The government does not support this reference. The matter of the Small Pelagic Fishery has been referred by the Labor Party to two scientific panels, which have been reported and have been the subject of significant scientific research that has been published by the government as we committed to prior to the election.

People ask why there is a reluctance to invest in Australian primary industries and the use of this Senate inquiry to play politics with this matter is a clear example of why. There is a business out there that is trying to get on with conducting its business in this fishery, which has been approved and supported by institutions such as the CSIRO Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies and SARDI in South Australia. The science is quite clear that this fishery can be sustainably fished and managed, yet the Labor Party wants to play politics with it.