Helen Kroger (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At the request of Senators Boyce, Colbeck, Macdonald and Boswell, I move:

That the Senate—

  (a)   notes that:

     (i)   the Gillard Government proposes to seriously damage Australia's fishing industry and harm Australia's tourism industry by establishing the world's largest marine reserve without any scientific foundation,

     (ii)   the Gillard Government proposes to make the Coral Sea a no-go zone to Australians, but other countries, whose fishing practices are not as sustainable as Australia's, will still be able to fish in the Coral Sea,

     (iii)   Australians will be deprived of a vital food source from the Coral Sea, which covers more than 989 842 square kilometres, more than half the size of Queensland,

     (iv)   almost 78 per cent of east coast Queensland waters will be in marine parks, almost 8 times the international benchmark,

     (v)   Australia's oceans are amongst the healthiest and best managed in the world due in large part to the sustainable practices of our fishers,

     (vi)   scientists have agreed that fishing is not putting the Coral Sea at risk and that Green groups have also acknowledged this, and

     (vii)   the proposed network has nothing to do with science but everything to do with appeasing the Australian Greens politically, who keep the Labor Government in power; and

  (b)   calls on the Australian Government to:

     (i)   halt the current process of expanding marine parks to ensure that any future marine parks are based on objective scientific research and stakeholder input, and

     (ii)   undertake a risk assessment of the threats to Australia's marine environment from existing and future uses to assess the need for the proposed marine parks.

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

Mr President, I seek leave to make a short statement.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

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

This motion is a complete nonsense and has so many misrepresentations of the facts that when I read it I was simply astounded—for example, the suggestion that the government is making the Coral Sea a no-go zone for Australians but other countries can fish there. It is largely a multipurpose zone, not a green zone. Again, this misrepresents and tries to run down marine protected areas wherever possible and does not acknowledge that marine protected areas are absolutely essential for the future of the marine environment and for the very future of fish stocks. This continual misrepresentation of marine protected areas and their values shows how the coalition does not seek the protection of the environment and does not care about the future of our fish stocks in this country or, in fact, world fish stocks, because that is what this proposal does. (Time expired)

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I seek leave to make a short statement.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was not going to say anything in respect of this, but the rubbish that has just been put up by the Greens forced me to say something. This continues the complete misrepresentation that they continue to peddle about Australia's fisheries management and the way that we operate in Australia's marine environment. There are huge green zones, both commercial and recreational, which lock the Australian fishing industry in the Coral Sea into this process. It is a complete lie to say that that is not the case. The misrepresentation that the Greens continue to peddle—that the only way you can protect the marine environment is to lock it up—is just not true. It is a complete and utter load of rubbish that they continue to misrepresent in relation to Australia's marine environment.

The coalition, like all other parties in this room, believe that we need to look after our own marine environment. We need to look after it all, not just bits of it that the Greens might, in conjunction with US based organisations, decide need to be locked up. The misrepresentation that the Greens have just put on the table needs to be responded to.

Question negatived.