Peter Lindsay (Herbert, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

Correct, as the member for Forrest correctly indicates. But more than that, it will give Townsville an international connection through Darwin direct to Asia, and of course Tiger on-flies to a series of other destinations in Asia. That is an opportunity we are going to have a good go at getting and we will give Tiger every support if it will support Townsville.

In the couple of minutes that are left to me, I want to pay tribute to the staff at the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. Over the last several years they have had some very difficult issues to deal with. They are headquartered in Townsville. They are charged as the custodians of the World Heritage area which is the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. They do a wonderful job.

We have been through a lot of community angst, particularly with fishermen. But fishermen have now come to understand that what we said is true: if you have green zones, no fish zones, where you can go and you can look and you can touch but you cannot take, fish grow more rapidly and they move outside the green zones and fishermen can catch bigger fish and more fish. It is now coming through very clearly that the science has been proved right.

The initial objections from the fishermen about us, GBRMPA, taking away some of their fishing locations, have been found to be not sustainable. In fact, we have delivered a better outcome for fishermen. GBRMPA have weathered all of that storm and they have weathered all of the political interference that has been run. They have delivered a great outcome for fishermen in North Queensland. If you want to throw a line in the water, you can throw a line in the water. But these days you can catch more fish and you can catch bigger fish.

Yes, I agree that some of the commercial fishermen were impacted upon, but for the first time we ran a significant package to help the fishermen overcome the disadvantage that they did indeed suffer. I note a couple of my colleagues are still unhappy with GBRMPA, but they have to understand that we got a great outcome not only for fishermen but also for the World Heritage listed park. It is really important to pass on to our kids and their kids a wonderful resource in a better condition than that in which we ourselves found it. We intend to do that. We are doing that. Congratulations to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority on the leadership that they have shown on this issue.

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