Peter McGauran (Gippsland, National Party, Deputy Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

Illegal fishing in our northern waters is a pressing problem and it is a high priority for the government. We tackled this in the 2005 budget with several hundred million dollars for cross-agency cooperation and a joint effort by Customs, the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Fisheries Management Authority and AQIS. We work in conjunction with the Western Australian government, the Northern Territory government and especially the Indonesian government. The Indonesians have a terrible illegal fishing problem and they have no tolerance for it. They have suffered enormously from illegal fishers—who are mostly, but not solely, Chinese—and they want to cooperate. We have a number of projects with the Indonesian government to give new industries to a number of these impoverished and far-flung fishing villages. We have some cottage industries starting up and, to the extent that it is possible, there is greater policing by the Indonesian central government. There is no wavering on the part of the Indonesian government.

I think it has borne fruit. We seem to have capped it at least—and I stand to be corrected by my colleague the Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation, Senator Abetz—and have begun to reduce the number of incursions. A lot of this has been due to the work of the Navy and some sensible measures by us, including that we burn the boats. We have five incinerator sites along the coast now. They can be burnt at sea or there can be multiple towings to a site. It is really quite a logistical or operational problem. By the time you tow them to the designated site, you have taken away the Navy patrol boat for several days. A lot of those sorts of measures are of high deterrent value. As well, there have been some jailings and confiscation of property and the like. So the problem has not gone away. It is not as extensive as it was, say, six to 12 months ago, but it will require continual vigilance.

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