Mr BONSON - 2003-02-20
I understand that the minister and the Chief Minister attended the AFANT Annual General Meeting last weekend. Can the minister inform the House of the initiatives he outlined at that meeting?
ANSWER
I thank the honourable member for this very important question. Yes, Madam Speaker, the Chief Minister and I attended the AFANT AGM last Sunday. We received a tremendous reception there - a tremendous reception - not only on the day from Warren de With and other members of AFANT, but also, I note with some pleasure today, an article by Mr Alex Julius, a well renowned writer on fishing and fisherman himself, well respected in the recreational fishing fraternity. This is page 29 of the NT News:
Govt vows to keep promises on access to waterways. Commitment impresses fishermen.
Last Sunday’s AFANT meeting was one of the least emotive AGMs in the association’s 23 year history … with plenty of good
news for the nearly 200 people who attended … Chief Minister Clare Martin struck a chord, particularly with her comments about
access to Aboriginal lands.
What that is all about is the commitment of this government, through the Chief Minister, to negotiate with Aboriginal organisations and people about access, about a whole range of things, pointing a positive way forward to the important issue …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, would you cease for a moment? I am quite sure people would like to hear this reply, but there are too many comments being made across the floor.
Dr BURNS: Thank you, Madam Speaker. We are talking about negotiation being the way forward. Mr Julius goes on to say:
I suppose if you had any doubt about this government’s commitment to increasing access to waters, Fisheries minister
Chris Burns dispelled that with his announcement that a dedicated Fishing Access Working Group would be formed.
That group is going to have a full-time resource officer attached to it. As a government, we are really going to focus on the issue of increasing fishing access. It was, and it remains, a core promise of this government. We realise that recreational fishermen and women in Darwin want more access, and we made a commitment. We will follow through on those commitments, and we are prepared to resource them.
We have invited the Northern Land Council, AFANT and the Cattlemen’s Association to be involved in this. It will be chaired by the CEO of the Fisheries division and have a senior officer from DIPE involved. It is a very important group. We are aware of the promises we made regarding access and we are going to further those promises. We are putting the resources on the ground. That has been recognised here by Alex Julius, that it is a very positive thing.
It is interesting to note - I believe it was yesterday’s Litchfield Times - the member for Goyder, the shadow minister …
Mr Dunham: At least he has caught a fish.
Dr BURNS: I will pick up on that interjection. I have caught my fair share of fish, member for Drysdale. As I told the AFANT general meeting, fishing was actually one of the real incentives for me to move to the Territory. I am not going to boast about the fish that I have caught, but I have caught a few. Fishing is a very important part of the Territory lifestyle, and I am proud to say that I am a keen fisherman. I do not get out on the water as much as I can, but I did go out with the CEO of AFANT just before Christmas and caught a few barramundi. Unfortunately, they were a little small and I had to throw them back, but I do know how to fish, member for Drysdale.
I was interested in the statements from the member for Goyder. He basically called on us to cancel all negotiations immediately and announce closures without consultation. In his article, he also called on the government to open up other areas of coastline further away from Darwin. I call on the member for Goyder to tell us what areas of coastline he is talking about. Does he want to re-open the Daly? Does he want to re-open the Mary River? Which areas of the coastline is he talking about here? Because I believe both the recreational and commercial fishermen would be very, very interested to hear that.
The Aquatic Users Forum was a group that was set up so that the different groups - the commercial fishermen, the recreational fishermen, and the considerable Aboriginal interests - can actually sit around and discuss and come to agreement about important issues: if you are talking about closures, about timing, where the closure lines are going to be, what areas around are going to suffer more pressure because of closures. That group is making substantial progress, and I commend that.
It appears that the CLP really have not learnt very much. Let us go back in history a little to 21 August 2001. Here we have Mr Nigel Scullion, who is probably well known to the other side as a Senator, talking about the way in which the former government, I guess now in opposition, suddenly threw up this idea: ‘We’re going to close all rivers’, just prior to election. He said, in an interview on ABC: ‘It was an act, I guess, of a very desperate government’. He was asked by the reporter: ‘You must have been amazed at the fact that there was simply no consultation’. Nigel Scullion’s reply: ‘Absolutely stunned’. Well, here they are, doing it again. The member for Goyder, I wonder whether his caucus or the party room is aware of what he is going out and doing; he is proposing closures and then opening up waterways. It was a desperate government; it is a desperate and clueless opposition.
ANSWER
I thank the honourable member for this very important question. Yes, Madam Speaker, the Chief Minister and I attended the AFANT AGM last Sunday. We received a tremendous reception there - a tremendous reception - not only on the day from Warren de With and other members of AFANT, but also, I note with some pleasure today, an article by Mr Alex Julius, a well renowned writer on fishing and fisherman himself, well respected in the recreational fishing fraternity. This is page 29 of the NT News:
Govt vows to keep promises on access to waterways. Commitment impresses fishermen.
Last Sunday’s AFANT meeting was one of the least emotive AGMs in the association’s 23 year history … with plenty of good
news for the nearly 200 people who attended … Chief Minister Clare Martin struck a chord, particularly with her comments about
access to Aboriginal lands.
What that is all about is the commitment of this government, through the Chief Minister, to negotiate with Aboriginal organisations and people about access, about a whole range of things, pointing a positive way forward to the important issue …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, would you cease for a moment? I am quite sure people would like to hear this reply, but there are too many comments being made across the floor.
Dr BURNS: Thank you, Madam Speaker. We are talking about negotiation being the way forward. Mr Julius goes on to say:
I suppose if you had any doubt about this government’s commitment to increasing access to waters, Fisheries minister
Chris Burns dispelled that with his announcement that a dedicated Fishing Access Working Group would be formed.
That group is going to have a full-time resource officer attached to it. As a government, we are really going to focus on the issue of increasing fishing access. It was, and it remains, a core promise of this government. We realise that recreational fishermen and women in Darwin want more access, and we made a commitment. We will follow through on those commitments, and we are prepared to resource them.
We have invited the Northern Land Council, AFANT and the Cattlemen’s Association to be involved in this. It will be chaired by the CEO of the Fisheries division and have a senior officer from DIPE involved. It is a very important group. We are aware of the promises we made regarding access and we are going to further those promises. We are putting the resources on the ground. That has been recognised here by Alex Julius, that it is a very positive thing.
It is interesting to note - I believe it was yesterday’s Litchfield Times - the member for Goyder, the shadow minister …
Mr Dunham: At least he has caught a fish.
Dr BURNS: I will pick up on that interjection. I have caught my fair share of fish, member for Drysdale. As I told the AFANT general meeting, fishing was actually one of the real incentives for me to move to the Territory. I am not going to boast about the fish that I have caught, but I have caught a few. Fishing is a very important part of the Territory lifestyle, and I am proud to say that I am a keen fisherman. I do not get out on the water as much as I can, but I did go out with the CEO of AFANT just before Christmas and caught a few barramundi. Unfortunately, they were a little small and I had to throw them back, but I do know how to fish, member for Drysdale.
I was interested in the statements from the member for Goyder. He basically called on us to cancel all negotiations immediately and announce closures without consultation. In his article, he also called on the government to open up other areas of coastline further away from Darwin. I call on the member for Goyder to tell us what areas of coastline he is talking about. Does he want to re-open the Daly? Does he want to re-open the Mary River? Which areas of the coastline is he talking about here? Because I believe both the recreational and commercial fishermen would be very, very interested to hear that.
The Aquatic Users Forum was a group that was set up so that the different groups - the commercial fishermen, the recreational fishermen, and the considerable Aboriginal interests - can actually sit around and discuss and come to agreement about important issues: if you are talking about closures, about timing, where the closure lines are going to be, what areas around are going to suffer more pressure because of closures. That group is making substantial progress, and I commend that.
It appears that the CLP really have not learnt very much. Let us go back in history a little to 21 August 2001. Here we have Mr Nigel Scullion, who is probably well known to the other side as a Senator, talking about the way in which the former government, I guess now in opposition, suddenly threw up this idea: ‘We’re going to close all rivers’, just prior to election. He said, in an interview on ABC: ‘It was an act, I guess, of a very desperate government’. He was asked by the reporter: ‘You must have been amazed at the fact that there was simply no consultation’. Nigel Scullion’s reply: ‘Absolutely stunned’. Well, here they are, doing it again. The member for Goyder, I wonder whether his caucus or the party room is aware of what he is going out and doing; he is proposing closures and then opening up waterways. It was a desperate government; it is a desperate and clueless opposition.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016