Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I was not going to say anything in respect of this, but the rubbish that has just been put up by the Greens forced me to say something. This continues the complete misrepresentation that they continue to peddle about Australia's fisheries management and the way that we operate in Australia's marine environment. There are huge green zones, both commercial and recreational, which lock the Australian fishing industry in the Coral Sea into this process. It is a complete lie to say that that is not the case. The misrepresentation that the Greens continue to peddle—that the only way you can protect the marine environment is to lock it up—is just not true. It is a complete and utter load of rubbish that they continue to misrepresent in relation to Australia's marine environment.

The coalition, like all other parties in this room, believe that we need to look after our own marine environment. We need to look after it all, not just bits of it that the Greens might, in conjunction with US based organisations, decide need to be locked up. The misrepresentation that the Greens have just put on the table needs to be responded to.

Question negatived.