Lisa Singh (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Hansard source

Labor supports Senator Ludwig's private senator's bill—the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment Bill—because this government cannot or will not take action on this issue of national importance. I remember that the powers that Labor used to stop the first supertrawler were opposed by Tony Abbott and the coalition, and I note that Australia's fisheries are still threatened by this government's inaction on supertrawlers. Despite that, the Prime Minister had the gall to say, when he did not support the original bill proposed when we were in government, that it was banned with the support of members on this side of the house.

Senator Macdonald comes into this place full of vitriol, in his usual aggressive, emotional style of contributing in the Senate. Heaven help anyone listening on the radio or on the internet. It was a complete tirade, although I am not sure that Senator Macdonald was aware of the bill before us. The bill does talk about science—it does talk about the need for more scientific research. The fact that Senator Macdonald is even referring to science for the first time in his life is surprising in itself. Because we know that when it comes to climate change and areas of global warming and the environment—and we are talking about the environment of our oceans in this bill—that Senator Macdonald completely denies any science on the record. He does not want to accept the science. We have heard him through many hours of budget estimates and many times in this place where his contributions have denied the science, yet today he wants to use science as a reason to continue allowing the activities of supertrawlers in our ocean areas.

Australia needs to be able to control the activities of future supertrawlers. Why? Because we need to ensure that our oceans, our recreational fishers and businesses are protected and that they have certainty. The fishing groups, environmental groups and the community at large—thousands upon thousands of them, who Senator Macdonald chooses to ignore—made their objection to this issue very clear. Of course Labor listened to their concerns at that time, but we went further to say that we need to have more scientific review and more research into these issues. That is why there was a two-year ban on supertrawler activity. We know there is a gap in the system when it comes to the powers of the environment and fisheries ministers to consider new commercial fishing vessels before they arrive and begin to fish.

This bill, for the knowledge of Senator Macdonald and those on the other side, will restore those tough powers to the environment minister to act where new types of fishing operations seek to work in Australia and where uncertainty exists about their conduct and their impact. Goodness knows the environment minister needs some new powers, because he certainly has not shown that he has any power in any other part of his environment portfolio. In fact, he has been missing in action when it comes to renewable energy, climate change, threatened and endangered species, marine reserves and basically every single component of his portfolio. This bill actually gives the environment minister a little bit of power, so that he can start to act in his own portfolio. It focuses very much on addressing that uncertainty that is related to so-called supertrawler vessels. It provides for a scientific process to occur for up to two years, providing for an expert panel to consider the impacts of the new venture if it is declared. This will provide the community, recreational fishers and businesses alike with a certainty if these declared activities are to operate in Australian waters.

This is a very sensible, precautionary approach. It will allow community and environment groups, together with business, to work with the scientific experts' panel to assess the true impacts of new and large-scale fishing operations—a very sensible approach as a means of dealing with supertrawlers. These amendments give the government of the day the power to declare a particular type of fishing activity which has not been used in Australia previously and around which some uncertainty exists to ensure proper and thorough expert scientific work is conducted. This very necessary legislation will allow the government to stop new supertrawlers before they come to Australia, as Labor did in office. In government, Labor introduced those strong powers to protect the environment, to respect the rights of recreational fishers and to provide that certainty to business. I note that Senator Whish-Wilson drew upon the work of the Global Ocean Commission, and I think that it is important to recognise its report on the state of the world's oceans in the context of this bill. The state of the world's oceans is significant when we talk about climate change, and that again has an impact on our fishing stocks. However, I was slightly disappointed that, at the recent UN climate change summit, oceans did not feature as significantly as they should have in talking about climate change and its effects on our oceans and on the species living in our oceans.

When Labor introduced these sensible powers in September 2012 to act against new commercial fishing vessels, the amendments were opposed by both the Liberal and National Parties. I have welcomed reports that the New Zealand fishing company, Sealord, has retreated from its plan of sending the 104-metre factory trawler Meridian 1 to my home state of Tasmania's deep-sea fisheries this summer. I think these are positive reports, and very good news for Tasmania's recreational fishing community, local fishing companies and of course the marine environment organisations, as well as the Blue Grenadier fishery. The fish itself has only one known spawning ground off western Tasmania, and its range is predicted to contract due to that region's global warming hotspot—where ocean waters are warming at three times the global average. Again, that is noted in some of the work that the Global Ocean Commission is doing. It has also been reported that Sealord remains determined to send the Meridian1 to Tasmania next summer, where it will equal the record of the biggest—I repeat, the biggest—vessel ever to fish in Australian waters, so I remain concerned that this reprieve will only be temporary. However, if the Prime Minister listens to the rogue parliamentary secretary, Senator Richard Colbeck, who wants the government to revert to its original position in favour of supertrawlers but who clearly is not representing Tasmania—