John Madigan (Victoria, Democratic Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a one-minute, brief statement.

Leave granted.

My first reaction upon reading emails of concern being sent to me by constituents was to contact fishing communities in Victoria and Tasmania. If the supertrawler is going to depopulate Australia's oceans of fish, it would seem reasonable that the people and communities whose livelihoods depend directly on our fisheries being sustainably managed should have something to say about that prospect. Community representatives have advised me that they are not concerned about the size of the trawler. Instead, their focus is on sustainable and effective management of our fisheries. Whether a ship is big or little does not determine whether our fisheries are well managed. What does determine good or bad management is the quality of our fisheries management processes; the quality of the science underpinning those processes; the quality of our compliance and checking regimes; and governments ensuring that the trawler operators know the rules, stick to the rules, and supervise to ensure that is happening. (Time expired)