Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It gives me a huge amount of pleasure to stand tonight to inform the Senate about a very exciting event that is going to be happening in Australia on Sunday. It is national Gone Fishing Day. Many may not realise that we have in excess of five million recreational fishers in Australia. In fact, it is Australia's most popular outdoor activity. It is not just something that many Australians enjoy partaking and participating in, but it is also worth billions and billions of dollars to our economy. As you would probably be well aware, Mr Acting Deputy President Back, much of that money is spent in our regional communities around Australia's vast coastline.

The great thing about fishing is that it does not take very much to get involved: you can drop a line over the side of your tinnie; you can head down to the local jetty; you can chuck on your runners and go for a walk out on the rocks at low tide to see if you can find a crab; or, as in my case, you can just chuck a piece of chewie on the end of a string and try and con a yabby into bitting on it. All of these things are fishing. They cost very little, but they are an intrinsic part of the Australian way of life. Australia's national Gone Fishing Day serves to remind us all about how much fun it is to get outdoors.

On Sunday this event will be nationwide. Every part of Australia can participate in Gone Fishing Day. I am advised that there are in excess of 100 events that have already been registered to be a part of Gone Fishing Day. They extend from Sydney to Perth, from Hobart to Darwin and everywhere in between. But you do not have to participate in one of these formal events to be part of national Gone Fishing Day. What the event seeks to do is encourage you to just grab a line and head off down to your local waterway—whether it be a river, a lake, an ocean or just a creek trickling down the back of your property—because it is really good fun to catch a fish. And it is not just fun; it is healthy. You can do it with your family; you can do with your friends. It is one of those things that I think all Australians aspire to do, but many of us may have forgotten what it is like to actually go fishing, because it has been so long since we have done it.

The Australian recreational fishing community also wants Sunday to be a reminder to everybody about being responsible fishers. The Australian recreational fishing sector has over recent times taken a real pride in the responsibility that they take in looking after what they believe is a very valuable pastime that they do not want to lose. They believe it is very important to maintain their social licence and, as such, they are intending to formally announce on Sunday—and it gives me great pleasure to be participating in this announcement—that they are going to enter into a voluntary code of conduct for all recreational fishers acknowledging the importance of their environment and what they are doing.

What they are seeking to do is tell Australians that they believe that everybody who goes fishing needs to be respectful. They need to respect the fish. They need to respect fellow fishers and other people who use the water that the fish live in. They also believe that you need to respect the environment. So, on Sunday, the Australian recreational fishing community intends to endorse a mantra that says you have to be respectful when you go fishing.

I will be chucking a line in on Sunday. I will be chucking a line over the side of a boat in Sydney Harbour with the national ambassador for Gone Fishing Day, Mark Taylor. So he will not be wielding his willow; he will be wielding a rod. My NSW colleague the NSW Minister for Fisheries, Niall Blair will also be there. I do not have a great track record of being a great fisher. In fact, I have often been accused of being probably the worst fisher in the world. So I am very hopeful that on Sunday I am going to break my drought and catch a fish.

The federal government is really proud and pleased to be in partnership with Australia's recreational fishing sector in this particular event, because we believe it is a very important event to represent and to showcase to Australia the benefits and values of getting outside, being healthy, having fun and doing something active on a Sunday.

We must commend the Australian Recreational Fishing Foundation and their partners for putting on this event. I would encourage anybody in this chamber who has not got anything planned on Sunday to maybe go for a scrabble in the back shed, see if you can find yourself a line, go down the river with some friends or some family, go down to the sea, chuck a line off a jetty. On Sunday, think about the importance that the recreational fishing sector has and plays in the Australian economy and the Australian lifestyle—and just having fun in Australia. I urge everybody to participate in this great event for all Australians.

Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Ruston. Good luck. Senator Gallacher.