Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is with great enthusiasm that I rise to speak on this matter of public importance put forward by the Leader of the Nationals, Mr Truss, on the adverse impact on fishing and coastal communities of the government's marine reserve declarations. I deliberately wanted to read out the title, because anyone listening to the previous speakers from the Liberal-National Party coalition would notice that they have not actually touched on that at all. They have been spinning a yarn and trying to engage politically, but they are not actually going to the respected science in this whole process and the actual consequences.

Let us get a bit of the history on the record straightaway. This process has been underway since Prime Minister Paul Keating was in the Lodge. Since then, there was a Liberal-National Party coalition in government for 12 years. They oversaw the same process, the same regime, the same science and the same process in terms of compensation. So let's get the facts on the table right from the start.

We have had crazy suggestions in question time from, I think, the member for Dawson, that there are no collective groups that actually support this process. I just looked through my Courier MailI do actually read the Courier Mail, the paper of record in the great state of Queensland. It is worth having a look at it, because there is a full-page ad from 19 and 20 May—

Mr Ian Macfarlane interjecting—

I will not take that interjection from the member for Groom. It is a full-page ad that says 'It is time to protect Australia's Coral Sea'. If you had been reading the Courier Mail, you would have seen it. This is by Gary Heilman from DeBrett seafood and on behalf of the longline fishermen in the Coral Sea. It is cosigned by Daniel Gschwind, the CEO of Queensland Tourism Industry Council, and Mike Ball from Mike Ball Dive Expeditions. So the reality is there has been a great consultation process overseen by the Keating, Howard, Rudd and Gillard governments.

Why is it important to get the facts on the table upfront? Because the reality is that, when it comes to protecting the environment—something we take very seriously as parliamentarians—when you strip out the politics, both sides of the chamber in Australian politics respect the environment and do our bit.

Australia is a nation where most of us have come from across the sea. Our roots go across the sea; 98 per cent of Australians have roots stretching across the sea. We know that the ocean is important. Australia is responsible for 11 per cent of the world's surface—an incredible amount of the world that we look after. We are a trading nation, so we understand how important it is to make sure that we have good connections with the rest of the world but we also know how these opportunities to protect the environment only come along every now and then. We heard the environment minister, Minister Burke, talk about those great moments in history—the Franklin, and those other ones—where people made decisions. I seem to recall it was actually the environment minister, Mr Newman, the father of Campbell Newman, the Queensland Premier, who actually took on Joh Bjelke-Petersen over something called Fraser Island, and said: 'No, Joh, you've got it wrong. You don't just strip-mine the lot. We are actually going to protect this significant piece of Australia.' That is the approach to significant blocks of earth of Australia that can only have certain biodiversity. You protect it for our children. So thank goodness that the environment minister, Mr Newman, had the courage to stand up to Joh Bjelke-Petersen. This is our chance to be that brave and protect the planet.

I was up at the War Memorial yesterday laying a wreath with a veteran of the Coral Sea—Hollyoak was his name. When you have the RSL, the French government through New Caledonia, the Howard government and the Labor Party all on the same ticket, it takes a special Leader of the Opposition to break that unity ticket. When you can get the French and the RSL and the Labor Party and the Howard government all on the one page, and then get Tony Abbott, the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Warringah, to come in and break ranks with that unity ticket, that is a special knack; that really is incredible.

Why is that? Let's have a look. Let's go back to the 2010 election and Senator Boswell's duplicitous campaign in Queensland. It was a very sneaky, quick campaign that we did not have a chance to rebut. It did not get a lot of traction in Moreton; that is why I am here telling you the truth. Perhaps in Bonner it did get a little bit more traction. Thankfully Moreton is a little bit far away from the jetties where people go off into Moreton Bay, despite the name of the electorate. The reality is that Senator Boswell managed to fool some people hook, line and sinker and say that there was going to be no fishing basically because of the Labor-Greens alliance. It was disgraceful misrepresentation.

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