Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Senator Ludwig. In 2005, the then Liberal fisheries minister, the Hon. Ian Campbell, and AFMA refused to allocate a Commonwealth fishing licence to the supertrawler Veronica II. This followed the banning of the Veronica from fishing in New South Wales, Western Australian and South Australian waters over concerns regarding the lack of scientific research conducted in the small pelagic fisheries. Can the minister update the Senate on what has specifically changed in the past seven years—

Honourable Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Just wait a minute, Senator. You are entitled to be heard in silence. Across the chamber, order!

Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can the minister update the Senate—

Honourable senators interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Just wait a minute, Senator Whish-Wilson. I will give you the call. You are as entitled as anyone else in this chamber to be heard in silence. Senator Whish-Wilson.

Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr President. Can the minister update the Senate on what has specifically changed in the past seven years in relation to granting a licence to the even larger floating industrial fish factory, the FV Magiris, recently renamed, in what is perceived as an 'up yours' to the Tasmanian public, the Abel Tasman?

Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Whish-Wilson for his question. It is unfortunate that he has not done his homework on this. It was in fact Senator Ian Macdonald who back in 2005 issued the direction, as I recall, to AFMA. If I go through the history—which Senator Whish-Wilson obviously does not want to do—it will show that before the agriculture minister at the time, Senator Ian Macdonald, issued a direction to AFMA, the MV Veronica was a particular type of vessel that was seeking to fish within our waters.

Rather than go through the long history, I will just say that the rules were changed after that by Senator Macdonald with the direction to AFMA—and it was a very sound direction. It moved the situation to a circumstance where we would concentrate on output controls versus what would commonly be described as input controls. Output controls meant that we would look at issues around the total allowable catch rather than at the type of gear or effort that went into fishing. Input controls, such as restrictions on vessel gear or gear size, are designed to limit catches by deliberately impeding the efficiency of fishing. This drives up costs and can lead to problems such as effort creep, where fishers are forced to invest in inefficient capacity to overcome restrictions, poor economic condition and overcapacity.

This government, like those before it, takes the position that output controls, particularly individual transferable quotas, are the preferred approach to fisheries management. (Time expired)

Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Can the minister update the Senate on any recent discussions with key recreational fisher groups since they walked away one month ago from the government's voluntary working group in Tasmania over their concerns on the lack of scientific work underpinning a management plan to prevent potential localised fish depletion in Tasmanian and Commonwealth waters from the operation of the supertrawler?

Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Whish-Wilson for his question. Again, one of the challenges is that if you do not do your homework in relation to these questions then they are missing facts.

If I could just inform the Senate about the facts: both AFMA and ABARES advise that small pelagic fisheries are known to be fast moving and wide ranging. The potential for localised depletion has long been recognised as an area of interest in the small pelagic fisheries. I note the recent report from eminent fishery scientists that states that factors in play in the fishery, taken together, 'give confidence that food-web impacts of the small pelagic fishery on predators and the small pelagic fishery species themselves, including through localised depletion, are unlikely'.

In terms of answering the part dealing with rec fishers, I can inform the Senate that I have had good discussions—including a roundtable—with rec fishers in relation to this issue. I attended their conference and spoke to them about this issue— (Time expired)

Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Can the minister comment on remarks made to the media by members of the Labor caucus, including ex-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, over the weekend, concerning a private member's bill to ban supertrawlers from operating in Australian waters?

Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am not going to be drawn into a discussion. This is an opportunity to ask questions. What I can say is that it has been the tradition that those opposite and us—and, I suspect, the Greens—are entitled to provide their own private member's bills.

Bob Carr (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A noble tradition!

Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a noble tradition, as Senator Bob Carr outlines. But can I say one of the important parts that is missed in this debate is that the Australian Fisheries Management Authority is an independent authority responsible for the sustainable management of Commonwealth fisheries. AFMA has continued to play that role very well. We know there is a view from the environment that it is a matter for Mr Burke to consider those questions, and these conditions which have now been added to the Abel Tasman to adopt world's best practice to avoid interactions with threatened endangered species— (Time expired)