Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I present a letter from the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory (Ms Aagaard) transmitting a resolution of the Assembly relating to the illegal foreign fishing incursions in Northern Australia.

Kerry O'Brien (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

It is important that the Senate notes the resolution on illegal fishing agreed by the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly on 16 February this year—important because the Howard government needs to recognise that the Northern Territory, like the other states and territories, is tired of this government’s inability or unwillingness to act against illegal fishing in Australian waters. Not unexpectedly, the Northern Territory’s resolution concerns Australia’s northern waters, waters that are being systematically pillaged by illegal fishers.

The Northern Territory Minister for Primary Industries and Fisheries, Mr Vatskalis, noted during debate on the illegal fishing resolution that illegal incursions threaten our fishing resources, our biosecurity and our sovereignty. He also informed the assembly that the Territory’s entreaties to the Commonwealth to take action against illegal fishers have gone largely unanswered. Dozens of suspected illegal fishers are sighted in Australian waters each day; only a fraction of these are ever intercepted. Among those, most are subject to the Howard government’s catch and release policy.

The concerns expressed by the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly are not held in isolation. The Northern Territory Seafood Council has said its members are concerned about the threat illegal fishing poses to the future of the industry in the north. The Western Australian government and the Western Australian fishing industry have expressed similar concerns. Federal Labor, through the shadow minister for agriculture and fisheries, Mr Gavan O’Connor, has long insisted that the Howard government take firm action against the plundering of our waters.

How has the Howard government responded? In the main, with empty words. The former fisheries minister, Senator Ian Macdonald, has copped enough of a bagging without my joining in—in my view, much of the criticism of his performance has been justified. I do not think he cared too little about the threat of illegal fishing but I do not think he got the support he needed from his colleagues to take effective action.

Senator Scullion is another member of the government who I have no doubt shares the frustration of the Northern Territory Labor government, the fishing industry and federal Labor with the Howard government’s lack of resolve on illegal fishing. Senator Scullion talks a big game in the Territory but utters not a peep of protest against his government’s inaction here in Canberra.

Senator Abetz is the direct beneficiary of Senator Macdonald’s dumping from the ministry. It is yet to be seen if the industry will benefit from his appointment. More to the point, it is yet to be seen if he will do any more to tackle illegal fishing than his predecessor. He has dumped, I might say, on Senator Macdonald already by conceding that the Howard government’s approach to illegal fishing has failed. What Senator Abetz has failed to do, however, is explain how he will do better.

I encourage Senator Abetz to respond to the Northern Territory resolution in a positive manner. The minister must begin by acknowledging the deep frustration held by the states and territories and the fishing industry relating to the Howard government’s failure to tackle illegal fishing. The Northern Territory wants the Prime Minister to convene a summit of relevant ministers and stakeholders to develop a national strategy. The Howard government’s approach to illegal fishing is not working—even Senator Abetz acknowledges the fact. I want to know whether Senator Abetz will take that proposal—that is, the proposal of the Northern Territory assembly—to the Prime Minister and work with his state and territory ministerial counterparts on a national plan. I would like to know, if he is not intending to do that, then why not? Why will he not work with those colleagues, as they request?

Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—The Greens support the substance of the resolution from the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly and their serious concerns about increased illegal fishing and note that the Territory and Western Australian governments have been calling for strong action to protect our northern fisheries and livelihoods for some time. We note the urgency of the matter but are concerned to ensure that the federal government’s actions have long-term sustainability of the region in mind rather than grabbing a quick fix that may make matters worse. There is a lot of pressure on the federal government to take firm action on the issue, but we want to send a strong message of caution that relying only on a strict policy of interception and detection could make a bad situation much worse.

A study by Professor James Fox from ANU for Environment Australia in 2002 sounded the warning:

One clear effect of the Australian fisheries enforcement policy of destroying vessels has been to put pressure on individual—

and small craft owners—

... who are unable to recover from the loss of their vessel and gear and are either forced into debt or out of fishing—

completely.

Conversely the larger owner/traders have effectively flourished under this policy as they are easily able to find second-hand vessels to replace destroyed vessels and they pass on the entire risk of destroyed fishing gear to their captains and crews. Their control of fishing and the indebtedness of fishers has increased.

In addition, captains and crews involved in shark fishing are financially responsible for any loss of fishing gear, usually owned by the fish trader/vessel outfitter.

This gear is very expensive. When it is confiscated by Australian authorities, that contributes further to the indebtedness of fishers without having impact on the boat owners and traders.

What this tells us is that, in relying purely on intercepting and destroying the smaller vessels, we are potentially inadvertently consolidating the illegal industry in fewer but more organised hands. Foreign vessel fleets operating under licence or poaching within Indonesian waters have had a major impact in recent years. This is one of the reasons so many Indonesian operators are sailing into Australian waters and having such a devastating impact on our marine environment. There is a huge temptation to simply arrest as many people as possible to show that something is being done, but with hundreds of impoverished Indonesians in detention serving long sentences for nonpayment of illegal fishing fines we will have attacked the wrong end of the problem and simply have compounded the misery.

We believe the government must target the large operators and organised crime networks which are operating in Australian and Indonesian waters. The illegal trade cycle has to be broken, but we cannot do this without the assistance of the Indonesian government. This means that the approaches of working with our Indonesian counterparts must be at the forefront of our action. We also need to look at what we can do to support sustainability and long-term food security at a village level in Indonesia, particularly in coastal villages. The Indonesian government’s economic empowerment of coastal community program is designed in part to address this question. We believe it is firmly in Australia’s interests to support this initiative. We must also look at the ecosystems which are at the basis of this whole question. The Arafura and Timor seas are a global marine hot spot and need our careful attention. We need a better understanding of the environment that this illegal activity is occurring in.

At this stage we have very little understanding of the true status of most of the shark populations in Australian waters. There is widespread concern about declining shark numbers but we do not have a handle on those populations. There is only basic biological information on the background of most of these species. We have little knowledge of the habitat preferences and other ecological requirements of these species. It is absolutely imperative that this is part of any of the programs dealing with illegal fishing. Sharks are under threat—we have no doubt about it.

We also need to look at what international trade sanctions and practices we can put in place as a mixture of packages for dealing with illegal fishing. There is no one easy answer to the fishing problem. We need to look at a shared seas approach where we work together with our northern neighbours to protect our shared seas. There is no real boundary in the habitats or environment between our northern neighbours and us. We must acknowledge that the boundary is an artificial boundary and one that our marine species pay no regard to. Therefore our approach has to be a joint approach to managing all our regional seas, not just Australian waters. We cannot leave the Indonesian government to deal with the Indonesian waters. It has to be a regional marine management approach.

We also need to look at how we invest our trade resources and to acknowledge that we need to deal with some of the fundamental causes of hardship in Indonesian coastal communities and that those resources have been fished out. There is no use arguing about the fact that they have been fished out and pointing blame; we need to acknowledge there is a problem and share our marine and fisheries expertise in this country with our northern neighbours. It would be highly desirable to target our aid packages to replenishing the reef systems that have been depleted in Indonesian waters.

We need to establish a collaborative fisheries management framework that, yes, has deterrents as part of that package. We also need a much better fisheries management approach; we need to be sharing our resources. We also need to establish a marine protected area program that protects areas of high biodiversity as nurseries for our northern fisheries and that protects threatened species, such as shark species. We therefore support this motion of the Northern Territory’s Legislative Assembly but believe that, although the measures that the Northern Territory government put forward are worth supporting, we need to go beyond that. We urge the Australian government to take note of this motion from the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly but to go further and look at all the initiatives that must be included in a comprehensive package if we are to deal with illegal fishing in Australia’s northern waters.

Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I would like to note the motion by Minister Kon Vatskalis, the minister for fisheries in the Northern Territory. It is somewhat disappointing to me that a new minister, the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Peter McGauran, with plenty of vim and vigour has declared that not on his watch is this going to continue. He has immediately gone to the Northern Territory with the greatest of grace and spoken to Minister Vatskalis. He escorted Mr Vatskalis out on the boats and explained some of the challenges that we are facing and the nature of those challenges so Mr Vatskalis can get across and have a better understanding of those facts. It is a great disappointment when the motion that they can come up with really does not go to the core of the issue—the challenges that we are facing and the resolutions to some of those challenges.

I want to take this opportunity to congratulate Senator Siewert for her contribution. She went some way to understanding the complexity of this issue, and it was a significant contribution to the debate. I thank her for that. It was in stark contrast with those opposite for whom, frankly, this is just another opportunity for some cheap political point scoring. For someone like Kon Vatskalis to put his hand on his heart and say, ‘I’m here in the interests of all Territorians,’ I think is a bit misleading. There is no doubt that there is a lot of mischief behind this motion. There is certainly not a lot of advice to look to for establishing policy changes with success. There is no doubt that foreign fishing is something that we are all looking to. It is a very complex and difficult challenge. I think most people who are involved at any level in the processes would understand and recognise that.

In the motion, they talk about ‘foreign nationals establishing camps throughout Northern Australia’. It sounds like some sort of a jamboree! As far as the eye can see, there are foreign nationals popping up tents and establishing camps! Before I came down here today, I thought I would make a last minute check. You have to be careful of your facts. Well, I certainly do, and we do in this place. There is no indication from all the authorities I could speak to about ‘foreign nationals establishing camps throughout Northern Australia’. Yes, there have been some landings, and they are not only unfortunate but something that we need to strive very carefully to ensure does not continue to happen and, in fact, abates. It is a very important part of that process. To say that foreign nationals are establishing camps throughout Northern Australia is, again, part of this political tomfoolery. It tends to mislead the people and the parliament in which the motion was made. It smacks of cheap political point scoring. What is necessary is to do exactly what our minister has done. He said, ‘This is a very important issue.’ Issues of this importance and this complexity are only really resolved with genuine partnership—to genuinely say, ‘We need a bipartisan approach to this. We all need to sit down together and assist each other in this matter.’

It is only very recently in the history of illegal fishing in Australia over 15 to 20 years that the Western Australian or Northern Territory governments have become involved in this process. That is unfortunate, because there have been a number of vessels that have either landed or sought to fish very much in inshore waters. In the past, this has been an issue that has substantially dealt with offshore fishing.

I confess, as part of government, that we can do a lot better. There might be only a small number of vessels, but they pose a very genuine risk. This is an opportunity to talk to this place about what we have in place. We talk about biosecurity, and the Vatskalis motion says that it puts ‘our bio-security and national sovereignty at great risk’. In terms of the biosecurity, it is good to remind the people in this place exactly what we do. The Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service ensures that before the vessels come to Darwin Harbour they anchor off Charles Point, sometimes in horrendous conditions. Divers are taken out to the vessel. They dive on the hull of the vessel to ensure there is no biofouling. There are some five species of biofouling that we do not want to come into Australia, so those vessels are inspected. If they are found to be clean of those particular foulings, they are allowed into Darwin Harbour. That is very comprehensive, expensive and sometimes dangerous. People are put at risk, but we put it at such a high priority that that is exactly what we do.

The North Australian Quarantine Strategy has been active in places like Swift Bay in Western Australia. Many of us here can remember when some of the first refugees—some 87; I can recall the number as something like that—came ashore there and disappeared into the reaches of the Kimberleys. The North Australian Quarantine Strategy team arrived in the place and made sure there was no marine fouling there. They made sure there were no quarantine impacts. That is a process that happens to this day. If there are any pieces of boat that flow ashore, if there are any reported landings, there is a comprehensive follow-up. It is very important that people understand that.

This is the nub of it, in the middle of this motion:

[We] call upon the Commonwealth government to agree to fund the expansion of the indigenous marine ranger program throughout Northern Australia as a matter of urgency.

I have become a little cynical in this place. The Indigenous Ranger program is primarily not a compliance regime. They will tell them that themselves. I was in Borroloola last week speaking to the coordinator of the Indigenous Ranger program, who is doing an exceptional job. Principally, their role is to look at research into a whole range of issues, but principal compliance outside of reporting is certainly not within their bailiwick. But it has been said: ‘Let’s have an Indigenous rangers program. The Commonwealth should expand it and they should pay for it,’ knowing that there is no compliance capacity within those. We have not have had a sea ranger program arrest any of these boats. They have played a fundamentally important role in detection.

In those communities, people like Gibson Farmer from the Tiwi Islands, or Mr Mbababook from Maningrida, make up a comprehensive part of border strategy, but they cannot be relied on to be a fundamental part of our compliance regime. That is just not what they do.

As a fisherman in the Northern Territory for just on 20 years, I note with interest that since the Labor government and Kon have been in charge, the fishermen tell me that there is hardly a vessel capable of getting outside of Darwin harbour. What has happened to boats like the Perbasue, the Salu and the Emalambrit? They have gone. The Labor government forgot to mention that. Then they thought: ‘Perhaps we could call on the Commonwealth to provide the funds. That would be innovative.’ But the Commonwealth did not fund that whole process. We lent them one of the Andrew Fisher class vessels. They were the vessels that predated the Bay class vessels. I think they were ugly vessels and that is probably why they were replaced. But, for whatever reason, the Northern Territory government sought to use one. The Commonwealth, very reasonably, has provided them with a Charles Kingsford. I am not sure how often it went to sea, but I cannot find anybody in the industry who has ever seen it outside the harbour. Whether it did a day trip or something, I am not sure. I will stand corrected if that is the case. But the Labor government have demonstrated that they have made no commitment at all to protecting their own waters. If you talk to Fisheries police, they will tell you that they get around with dinghies on top of their cars. That is the total input of the Northern Territory government.

We have this letter from the Northern Territory government, popping this resolution off to the Senate for us to debate. Those on the other side have grasped at another straw, like a drowning man grasping at a straw, thinking that this will really crack open the policy. But you have to dig into this to see the real cynicism. They have made no contribution at all. We provide, through CDEP arrangements, ongoing funding for the manning of those crews in the sea ranger programs. To now say, ‘We should expand all of that,’ and to put it down to foreign fishing is pretty cynical and is completely out of order in this place. It attempts to mislead this place about the capacity and the functions of that particular process. Calls for us to adopt this strategy fly in the face of commonsense. It contains absolutely no bilateral involvement whatsoever and, without that bilateral involvement, it will not work.

In 2005, then Minister Senator Ian Macdonald visited the marine affairs and fisheries minister in Indonesia. We are working very closely with them to ensure that they have a much greater involvement in compliance. I am gratified to see that the West Australian has reported that two Indonesian navy patrol boats are patrolling our borders. I cannot make a close correlation that it was a consequence of that meeting, but a regional marine management approach is certainly the way to go. I know this government are working on that. The evidence is the Chen Long which has been spoken about in the media. What a fantastic outcome for Australian fisheries, for Customs and for the Navy. We should not be in this place knocking them. We should be supporting them. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.