Disallowance Motion on the Coral Sea Conservation Zone

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IAN MACDONALD (Queensland) (6:08 PM) —I want to first of all respond to some of the things that Senator Siewert said. In my contribution I am talking of course to the whole Senate, and the people of Australia who are listening, but I am particularly talking to Senator Xenophon and Senator Fielding, who I understand are as yet undecided.

Senator Xenophon —No, that’s not quite right.

Senator IAN MACDONALD —I am told that being undecided is not quite right! Let me try, lest your decision, Senator Xenophon—through you, Mr Acting Deputy President—not be in support of us, to urge upon you some reality checks. Senator Siewert quite rightly and graciously said the marine planning process was all put in place by the Howard government, and the coalition is not intending to trash that process. I was very much involved in the south-east marine protected area process, in the south-east of Victoria. After a lot of negotiation, consultation, and working and talking it through in meetings with conservationists, fishermen, boating people and anyone else concerned, we got to a stage where there was a multi-user marine protected area in place, and it brought the whole community with it. Once it was implemented, it was followed without compulsion being necessary because it was a consultative process. The fishermen and conservationists were all involved. Whilst at the end of the process not everyone was 100 per cent happy, 100 per cent of the people were 80 to 90 per cent happy. That is the coalition’s position, and we are not going to change that.

This bioregional process that is in place is a result of the process put in place by the Howard government some years ago. The process for the bioregional planning for places including the Coral Sea is already in place. It will indeed continue—I just pause while Senator Brown interrupts my conversation with all senators, including, particularly, Senator Xenophon. That process will continue. It is already happening.

Do you know what that kind of process should involve? Consultation, taking people with you, making sure at the end of the process you have everyone on board. You also find out that, by consulting with people, you get a result that gets rid of some of the unintended consequences. I regret to say, in relation to green zones on the Great Barrier Reef—and Senator Boswell will hate me for this—that the end result was a good conservation measure, but we got into all sorts of problems because we did not properly consult on it. The consultation that occurred with the department at the time was, I regret to say, not always truthful. Because of that, we have had years of battles in court. The process started off with a compensation bill of $10 million and has now added up, at the last count, to over $300 million. That all happened because there was not sufficient consultation. We learnt our lesson there, and with the south-east marine protected area we got consultation going and we got a pretty good result. That is how this process should happen.

What happened in this particular instance? Without explaining to those who were involved, we woke up one day and found that there had been a proclamation to declare a conservation zone—not a multi-user reserve or anything—in the whole of the Coral Sea. Most Australians waking up and hearing that on the news would think: ‘The Coral Sea—that’s the coral reef, the Great Barrier Reef. Yeah, we like that—good idea.’ But of course the Coral Sea is anything but the Great Barrier Reef; it is nowhere near the Great Barrier Reef. It is beyond the Great Barrier Reef. It is hardly fished at all. I think the estimates answers told me that less than 500 tonnes of fish were caught from the Coral Sea in the last year, and it has been going down. The fishing impact on the Coral Sea is negligible.

What does happen on the Coral Sea is that the charter operators—they were called ‘marlin boats’ in the old days—go out there. They are the boats that put Cairns on the map, and currently there are hundreds of them in Cairns, providing employment and investment returns for those who have invested in the Cairns tourism industry. I remind senators, as I have done in this place before, that Cairns currently is suffering a 17.5 per cent adult male unemployment rate. Across the board, unemployment in Cairns is about 14 per cent, the highest for a region anywhere in Australia. I was in Cairns the other day and was privileged to be staying at the Shangri La Hotel, right on the waterfront. I went for a walk in the morning past the marlin boats that were all lined up there. I thought it would be interesting to wander into the marina and talk to a couple of deckhands there. I asked them: ‘What are you doing? Getting the boat ready?’ ‘Yes,’ they replied, ‘we have got three people flying in from America in about two hours time. They will come straight out from the airport and jump on board.’ I did not ask how much they were charging them, but my understanding is that it would be $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000 to go out marlin fishing for the day. I said to these young fellows, ‘You go out to the Coral Sea.’ ‘Of course,’ they replied. I said: ‘You go out beyond the Great Barrier Reef, where the marlin are. It is the thing that put Cairns on the map.’ I then asked, ‘Did you hear about the conservation act?’ They said: ‘Yeah, we heard about that. We’ll lose our jobs.’ I said, ‘Perhaps not,’ and they said, ‘Yes, we will.’ Whether they are right or wrong, I do not know. I suspect they are right.

Senator McLucas —I will follow it up.

Senator IAN MACDONALD —I will give you the name of the boat and the owner. The owner was not there. I was talking to the deckhands and they said, ‘We will lose our jobs out of this.’ Unemployment is 17.5 per cent. I see that Senator McLucas is going to take some part in the debate. Tell me what the government is doing about 17.5 per cent unemployment in Cairns. What are they going to do? They are going to knock off one of the few remaining profitable industries on the Cairns waterfront. That is what this regulation is all about.

I will look now at the proclamation. It says:

The environmental significance of the Coral Sea derives from the globally unique assemblage of scattered coral reefs, seamounts, atolls, abyssal plains, deep sea canyons and islands and the extent to which the region’s natural and heritage values have remained relatively undisturbed by direct human impact.

Hang on! This is the area they want to save with a conservation zone, but they are saying that it is ‘relatively undisturbed by direct human impact’. What is going to change in the next year or two that is going to alter that? It is so pristine that after 100 years of being used by the marlin boat operators, the few fishermen who are out there, the scuba divers and anyone else, it is still in a pristine state that remains relatively undisturbed by direct human impact. So what are we trying to correct with this conservation zone?

I say to those senators who might be wavering: here we are with a process in place—the marine regional process—which, as Senator Siewert rightly said, requires the government to consult with everybody, to take them with them and to listen to what they might say about unintended consequences. That process is in place. So why come in in the middle of that and slap this conservation zone on it—a conservation zone that will impact upon the investment potential, the investment confidence, of those still investing in the marine industries in Cairns. I can assure the Senate that were the coalition in power we would continue with the bioregional planning process—and Greg Hunt, the shadow minister for the environment has asked me to make this point. We, after all, started it and we understand the importance of it. But we want to take people with us. We want to make it a multiuser park. Senator Siewert is throwing in things about these sunken ships. Well, thanks, Senator Siewert, but you know better than I that they are already protected by the Historic Shipwrecks Act. You do not need this conservation zone for that, and you know it.

I say to you that the amount of research done out in the Coral Sea—and I know this from the time when I was fisheries minister—is absolutely minimal. I know AIMS, that great institution, tries to do some work, but they are starved of funds and are unable to do it. Do you know who does the most research out there in the Coral Sea? Do you know who tells them where the sea mounts are? Do you know who tells them where the tuna are running—but that is not important because they do not fish for tuna? Do you know who tells them where the marlin are running when they come in—with which tide and which current? Do you know who provides all of this information to the research agencies? It is the charter boats; it is the marlin boats. They are the ones who go out and catch fish, tag and release them and then when they are caught again in a couple of years time they read the tag and take the information and pass it back to the research agencies. It is those boats that are doing the only data collection out there. And this silly regulation actually wants those people to be stopped. Sure, they say, ‘Oh, we will give them a permit anyhow and we are not going to charge them any money.’ Well, why bother if that is the case?

This is the thin end of the wedge. It does not need to be done. We do not want another great conflict like we had at the Traveston Crossing dam—I see Senator Bob Brown here; he ran both sides of the fence on the Traveston Crossing dam, you might recall. We do not want that sort of conflict in environmental issues. We want people to be taken with us, together.

Mr Acting Deputy President McGauran, I think there is someone breaching standing orders by wandering around the chamber. Perhaps it was the person who I mentioned had walked both sides of the fence with the Traveston Crossing dam—on one occasion he opposed it and floated down the river and on the other occasion he gave preferences to the government that wanted to build it. But I know independent senators and others who are listening to this will not be distracted by a pretty obvious ploy by the Greens leader to distract their attention.

The data is there. We want to take people with us to make sure that we get an arrangement in the Coral Sea that has universal support—and it can happen. Ms Zethoeven, for whom I have some regard as a person in a social capacity, is saying: ‘The fishermen would like to get out of there. Give them four or five million dollars for their licences and they will be out tomorrow.’ But, hang on—this arrangement does not provide four or five million dollars for a fishing licence; in fact, it provides nothing. It tries to give them a permit which could well impact on any compensation that might come or be able to be insisted upon if this should eventually become part of the bioregional marine planning process.

We do not want to confiscate people’s licences without reward, so let’s have a look. I think Senator Scullion is full bottle on this, and he will be talking shortly. Is it the case that, when a permit is given, you are then taking away or giving by government grant a right that has existed under the fisheries act for some time and which, if taken away, might entitle those fishermen to some compensation? Why do this? That is the bit I cannot understand.

I have demonstrated that it is a pristine area already. It is there, it is so pristine, everybody wants to preserve it. So why bother? The marine planning process is going to continue. If the Australian public decides to get rid of this government at the next election, which I hope it will do, I can assure you that the next government will continue the process that the Howard government started—that is, the marine protected areas and the bioregional planning process.

We were the first government in the world to start the marine planning process. That was an initiative of the Howard government and it will continue with the Turnbull government. We are very proud of that. There is no doubt that we will continue it, but we will do it in conjunction with all of those people involved. We will do it in conjunction with the fishermen. We will do it in conjunction with the marlin boat operators. We will do it in conjunction with the conservationists.

I think at times that Ms Zethoeven has a belief—and I do not want to verbal her here—that the ends sometimes justify the means. In this case you can get to the ends, but you can get to them by taking everyone with you. Someone should have a look at the regulations themselves. I did; I used to be a lawyer. The regulations that this proclamation brings into play, and I know that Senator Scullion is going to talk about this, are quite horrific. Why bother? Why go through it all? Why cause that division? It is not necessary. By the time the bioregional planning process comes around, it might be a year. It might be two years. It might be three years. But it is on the way. It is happening now.

Senator Boswell —It is happening next year.

Senator IAN MACDONALD —Next year, is it? Thank you, Senator Boswell. It is happening now, so why interfere with that process? Why have half the people demonstrating in the streets, arguing against it and getting all upset when it is not necessary? This conservation zone is not needed. The bioregional planning process will continue. So why bother with it?

I pay tribute to Senator Ron Boswell. We have not always agreed, and some of the things that I have said today I know Senator Boswell will not agree with, but I commend a senator who has been passionate in his support for the fishing industry in Queensland and, beyond that, for the tourism industry. He, as do I, has this great concern about the unemployed in Far North Queensland and the impact that this will have upon their jobs.

I plead with those in the Senate who have not yet made up their minds to ask themselves: why is this being pushed forward? I do not subscribe to conspiracy theories, but it is not necessary, so why is it being done? Why is it being pushed by a group from America—who were formed, I might say, with oil money? Perhaps there is a guilty conscience there. Why not talk to some people in Cairns rather than talking to some Americans? What is behind it? There is no conspiracy, perhaps, but what is the purpose of it all when it is quite unnecessary? It was announced without any warning, without any consultation with those directly involved and it is completely unnecessary.

I, like Senator Boswell, am passionate about these things. I am passionate about the Barrier Reef. I am passionate about marine conservation. I am also passionate about my fellow North Queenslanders who do not have a job—all they want to do is argue with the government, because the government in this instance and in one other instance has not taken them with it. We can solve all that. We can pursue the bioregional process and keep it going at a fast rate, but let us not destroy the goodwill for the sake of these regulatory measures, which are completely unnecessary. No-one who has spoken in this debate so far has in any way convinced me that there is anything that this proclamation will do that would not happen otherwise.

Senator IAN MACDONALD (Queensland) (6:31 PM) —The Manager of Opposition Business has spoken. I think that is appropriate. If anyone wanted to consult with him perhaps now would be an opportune time. What if we go for half an hour and we have not finished the debate then? That is my concern. Do we have another half-hour extension and do we then go to Christmas time?

Senator Faulkner interjecting—

The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT —Senator «Macdonald» and Senator Faulkner, you are not to carry on the conversation across the chamber. Any questions can be asked outside the chamber.

Senator IAN MACDONALD —Indeed. I am concerned about this. The government again is demonstrating how it cannot manage this chamber. It is in complete disarray, in the same way as the economy will be in a year or two when we have to turn around and start paying off the huge borrowings that this government has embarked upon—

The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT —Senator «Macdonald», on advice from the Clerk I should put this motion now. There should be no debate on a motion to adjourn the debate.

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