Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

This bill gives the minister unfettered and extraordinary powers and threatens every Australian family fishing operation. In an attempt to supposedly address community concerns about the Abel Tasman, the minister has gone to the extreme—the green extreme, as per usual—by giving himself unlimited powers which will impact upon every family fishing boat around the nation. My electorate of Riverina is landlocked, but this is of great concern to me and to those people who enjoy fishing and who do not want to see Labor continue to be led by the nose by the green lobby. Not content with putting up barriers to fishing, under the guise of national marine parks, the minister will stop our people from fishing but he will not prevent illegal fishing boats from taking whatever they like as long as they go undetected. Given this government's record on border protection, that could amount to a lot of fish.

Once more the government is making policy on the fly—it is policy on the run—and in the process it is giving the minister unlimited powers on the basis of social uncertainty, whatever that means. That goes way beyond addressing the current issue and concerns. The minister will be able to overturn any fishing activity on the basis of even the slightest social complaint—supposedly social uncertainty.

There is a message there: get a greenie, leftie idea, turn it into a social media campaign and watch this government jump. Watch it twist. Watch it turn. There does not have to be any evidence, and uncertainty can be created by a complaint from a political source. The same absolute powers apply to economic or environmental complaints. Don't we know how this government twists and turns when it is subjected to environmental lobbying! The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act will no longer be about the environment. There is no indication of what the term 'uncertainty' means, and the bill provides scope for the minister to stop any fishing activity without any substantive case.

This is a threat to the entire fishing industry. One problem should not create a greater problem for an entire fishing community. The decision clearly creates sovereign risk issues for existing fishers who hold licences. Australia's commercial fishing industry will not have the confidence to continue to invest if any quota and/or licence can be overturned at the whim of the government. Businesses and private individuals are worried about the power of mob rule and that, essentially, is what happened with the live cattle farce. We heard the member for Melbourne talking about how the Greens were there to stop the business—he said they could stop big business in its tracks. He is so right, because this Labor government is beholden to the Greens, is beholden to Senator Christine Milne and the rest of her coterie.

Seafish director Gerry Geen said on Tuesday the decision would cost 50 Australians, including the 45 engaged in Devonport, Tasmania, their jobs. The report of his fears is worth repeating as a message of dire warning:

'It is going to be hard to have to tell those employees, some of them who were long-term unemployed, that we no longer have a job for them,' he said.

'It seems that after we have met every rule, regulation and request made of us; after years of working with the relevant authorities, that in the end the government reacted to the size of the Abel Tasman and not the size of the quota and the science that supports it,' Mr Geen said.

This decision sends an awful message to all potential investors into Australia to be very, very afraid. It shows that this government can and will change the rules after you have committed to a venture, putting at risk the investment, the jobs and all the hard work of many people over many years. And then, when you have met all the new rules and all the requests, it can still just shut you down. Haven't we heard that from many, many people. We have heard it in the cattle industry, we have heard it in the irrigation industry and now we are hearing it in the fishing industry.

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