Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on a matter of great importance to the Western Australian community. I refer to the perilous state of WA’s estimated $300 million per annum rock lobster industry. It also potentially represents an environmental collapse of this important species. We have got to do lots of work to make sure that we know what is going on. I refer also to the mismanagement of this important industry by the current WA government, who I believe is asleep at the wheel on this issue. I would like to emphasise that the head-in-the-sand approach to climate change of the Howard government has perhaps contributed to the parlous state of the WA rock lobster industry.

The industry has relied on sophisticated scientific models to predict the potential catch for the crayfish season several years ahead. But interconnected changes in wind, water temperature and ocean currents appear to be disrupting these predictive models. The crayfish life cycle includes great migrations of adults to deeper waters to lay eggs. The larvae that hatch from the eggs are swept long distances offshore and back. Eventually currents will carry juveniles from offshore to inshore reefs. There they feed and grow for three years or more before they are at catching size. Puerulus settlement is affected by the south-flowing Leeuwin current, which is in turn powered by the El Nino southern oscillation cycle, the intercontinental gradient that gives us the well known El Nino and La Nina.

Climate change has given us more frequent El Nino, which means a weaker Leeuwin current and climate change has made the water temperature increase. Climate change has caused the westerly winds in winter to weaken and slip south. It is, therefore, highly likely that there is a connection between climate change and the dramatic drop in puerulus numbers this year and scientists will need to adjust their predictive models to cope with these changes in our climate.

Western rock lobster fishing families have raised their plight with me and it is indeed a sorry story. In February this year, the WA Minister for Fisheries, Norman Moore, announced additional measures to address a crisis in the WA rock lobster future stock. This was on top of measures announced prior to the start of the rock lobster season. The earlier measures included a 15 per cent reduction in unit values—or lobster pots—introduced at the start of the season. The February measures included restricting fishing times and bringing forward to 1 March a further 15 per cent reduction in unit values proposed for next season.

So what this means is that the minister took a decision to change the rules under which the industry was operating and this happened after the season had started. Families in the fishing industry had made financial commitments based on what they thought the rules were. For example, some had taken out loans to acquire lobster pots for the season and others had remortgaged their homes. Yet after the season had started, and they had made these commitments on the basis of the rules as announced, the rules were then changed.

I am not arguing that measures were not needed to address a dramatic drop in the numbers of puerulus or larval lobsters but that this was not done before the season started so that the industry could plan ahead and that is damning. It points to a lack of adequate planning on the part of the government. And it really suggests that the minister has not consulted adequately with the WA rock lobster industry about where the larval stocks were growing.

So where does this leave the industry, an industry that is struggling to survive in the face of contracting markets in the United States and Asia and as banks increasingly tighten up on credit for small business? I believe, in the face of these challenges, there is a clear case for the WA state government to provide financial relief for the industry. As the shadow minister for fisheries in WA, Hon. Jon Ford, has pointed out:

It is unfair to change the goal posts once a season has already commenced without offering some form of assistance.

It is unfair indeed—unfair to those working in the industry, unfair to their families and unfair to consumers. There are different ways such a package could operate. According to Mr Ford, it:

… could take the form of discounts or exemptions on licence fees, ex-gratia payments, assistance in negotiating the refinancing of commercial loans, and assistance and strategies in retaining staff.

But the next question here is: why did the original western rock lobster management plan, instigated only a few months ago by Norman Moore, fail? In relation to this question, the spectre of climate change looms large. But the fact is that we need better information. We need better information because the former Howard government had its head in the sand that climate change even existed. As climate change deniers, they were incapable of assessing the extent of climate change, let alone of assessing its impacts including its impacts on the now precariously operating WA rock lobster industry.

But I am pleased, Senators, that the Rudd Labor government knows that climate change is real. I am pleased that the Rudd Labor government is working toward getting real evidence about the current and future impact of climate change on all our industries, including the WA rock lobster industry. The Rudd Labor government recently announced a more than $6 million investment in the future of our fishing industry. This means getting the evidence to sustain and create jobs in the industry into the future. This is important news for the WA rock lobster industry.

Just last Friday, the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Tony Burke, announced funding for WA rock lobster research through the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, the FRDC. Research projects in WA will include over $400,000 to identify factors affecting the low western rock lobster larval stock. This research will involve assessing environmental factors, including water temperature, current, wind, productivity and eddies, which may well relate to climate change. There will also be further funding of more than $130,000 to help evaluate the potential use of new techniques for determining harvest rates and driving efficiency increases in the WA rock lobster fishery. I note that the University of Western Australia is also going to receive an additional $165,000 to conduct an evaluation of the WA rock lobster population genetic structure and to look for severe bottlenecks in population size.

These specific initiatives are in line with the Rudd Labor government’s commitment to help prepare Australia’s primary industries for climate change and build resilience in our agricultural sector into the future. The Rudd government is already delivering on this commitment. It has already announced the $46.2 million Climate Change Research Program in agriculture, to which the fishery industry can also apply. The Climate Change Research Program is a competitive grants program that provides grants of between $50,000 and $5 million, on a matching funding basis, to support research and development, proof of concept and early stage commercialisation activities to develop solutions to climate change challenges.

Under Australia’s Farming Future arrangements, the Rudd Labor government is also taking further steps to help the fishing industry confront an uncertain future. These arrangements will allow wild harvest fishers to apply for grants under the FarmReady program of up to $1,500 per financial year to attend things like FarmReady approved courses. These courses focus on equipping primary producers with the tools to manage and adapt to the impacts of climate change. In addition, FarmReady Industry Grants provide eligible industry organisations with grants of up to $80,000 to help develop the skills and strategies needed to respond to the impacts of climate change.

Unlike the Howard government, the Rudd government is taking action on climate change and its inevitable impacts. But in the case of the WA rock lobster industry, the challenge will be ongoing. That is why I urge the Rudd government to continue to lead the way by providing better coordination of information across the western rock lobster industry. I also ask the Rudd government to work with all the relevant members of the industry, researchers and fisheries managers to discuss the reasons behind the crisis facing this important industry. (Time expired)