Fishing Convictions

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Senator IAN MACDONALD (Queensland) (10:06 AM) —I, and also on behalf of Senator Boswell and Senator Fielding, move:

That the Senate calls on the Government to fix by Proclamation, a day, not later than 31 July 2009, on which the provisions inserted into the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975 which treat as spent, certain convictions relating to offences against former section 38C of that Act which were passed through the Senate on 11 November 2008 and adopted unanimously by the House of Representatives on 12 November 2008, commence.

Senator IAN MACDONALD (Queensland) (10:08 AM) —by leave—There is absolutely no legal reason why the government cannot proclaim that particular section of the act without proclaiming the other parts of the act that Senator Ludwig referred to. It was the intention of the Senate, when the motion was originally passed, that those spent conviction provisions take effect immediately. By a curiosity in the act, what Senator Ludwig says is correct, but it does not in any way stop the government from today proclaiming that particular provision and so bringing into effect the will of the Senate and the interests of those who have been wronged by this particular provision. I am not here to debate this, of course, and I cannot urge people to vote for the motion, but I simply say that the government’s reason for opposing the motion is not precise

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