Mr GUNNER - 2009-05-07
Fishing makes such an important contribution to our great lifestyle, supports businesses and provides jobs throughout the Territory. What will Budget 2009-10 deliver for anglers?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, at least we get some quality questions, not like the boring questions …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order!
Mr VATSKALIS: Fishing is very popular in the Territory …
Mr Mills: So the truth does not matter. It is the heart of Labor. Lies. What else would you call it?
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I ask the member for Blain to withdraw, please.
Mr TOLLNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The member for Blain did not direct that comment personally at any particular individual. He made a general comment, and there is no point of order.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, I ask you to withdraw, knowing that when you make a comment in general like that about the government, it is not appropriate except by way of substantive motion.
Mr MILLS: Madam Speaker, it was not about government. It was about Labor, and the capacity to just smile and disregard any reference to the truth.
Madam Speaker, that is the point, and if you ask me to withdraw that - I did not, unless anyone feels that that is a personal slight on them, as obviously they do …
Madam SPEAKER: I have to say that the level of interruptions is such that it is very hard to even hear some of the actual comments. I will allow it on this occasion, Leader of the Opposition. But if the interruptions and interjections can be kept to a bare minimum, please. Who is actually on their feet? It is very hard to follow and it is very loud from up here, let me tell you.
Mr VATSKALIS: Thank you, Madam Speaker. Fishing is very popular in the Territory, more than any other destination. It is a way of life for so many Territorians. In my electorate, one person in four owns a boat. It makes me very jealous because, unfortunately, I am the minister for Fisheries and cannot go fishing. We attract more fishing tourists than other jurisdictions. It is estimated that approximately $1bn is spent in the Territory through fishing - buying equipment, petrol, accommodation, and spending on tourism. It is a significant contributor to the Territory economy. Recreational fishing in the Territory is growing. We need to ensure that the fishing experience available today continues in the future.
We are buying back barramundi licences. We have promised that when we buy three barramundi licences and close down the Bynoe Harbour and the Finniss River, and we intend to do that. We have a comprehensive survey of recreational fishing activity currently under way and, in the next two years, we expect to find out what impact, if any, recreational fishing has on our fishing resources. We spent $470 000 on this. The outcome of the survey will ensure that recreational fishing remains sustainable into the future, not only for us, for our children, but for our grandchildren.
We have seen the mistakes made in other states where indiscriminate recreational fishing has wiped out fishing resources. A very good example is in Western Australia near Monkey Mia. With the development of new equipment, boats can go a long way from the coastline and, with GPSs, people can target exactly where they fished a week ago, a month ago, two months ago, and they can hammer the resource. As a result, the Western Australia government put restrictions on how many people can fish, how often they can fish, and they even closed whole areas where the resource had been hammered by recreational fishing.
We also believe that we have to have a plan for the future of fishing, and that is why we established a community-based working group to develop a recreational fishing development plan.
We have committed to improving facilities for recreational fishing. Recently, we opened the state-of-the-art boat ramp at Hudson Creek. The reason we had to spend all this money was because a previous CLP government sold the existing boat ramp to a private company. They sold it, and we were forced to negotiate with that private company for two years for anglers to use this facility before we built ours.
In 2009-10, we will be spending $4m to upgrade the Palmerston boat ramp, putting in a security compound, security lighting, and power and lighting to the ramp. We want to provide access points throughout the Territory, not only in Darwin. We have increased demand from recreational anglers, the charter companies, and people who want to go fishing. In addition to that, we have put $1m per annum for four years to improve recreational fishing access and infrastructure.
I thank AFANT, especially Mr Chris Makepeace. He went with officers of my department to nearly every boat ramp around the Territory, inspected it, and made comments. My department, together with the Department of Planning and Infrastructure, will commence to repair, upgrade and provide new facilities - and not only what the men of the family wants, but what the women want. In some of the areas, the biggest demand was from women who wanted proper toilets. We have commenced that and have put in proper toilets. Believe it or not, women now make up a big part of the recreational lobby.
As I said before, we have done a lot for recreational fishing. We believe that recreational fishing is very important for the Territory. Unfortunately, members of the opposition do not think so. I was severely criticised by the member for Katherine for closing Fog Bay, despite the fact that his leader supported me in the beginning when I closed it, and he supported me again after AFANT supported me. I thank him for that. I appreciate when he is honest, comes out, and does some good …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order! Member for Daly, cease interjecting.
Mr Westra van Holthe: You would not have a clue.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, member for Katherine!
Mr VATSKALIS: Madam Speaker, I thank very much the legislative expert on fishing from Katherine for his opinion.
The reality is, before I proceeded to close that area, I sought the advice of the department; I read the act, and it was clearly within my capacity and powers as the minister to stop an illegal activity taking place - an activity that embarrassed us throughout the world. Photographs that were taken are circulating in newspapers everywhere. It was in my power and I decided to act decisively.
I thank the Leader of the Opposition, when he does the right thing. If we have to do the right thing, we have to do the right thing. If you do not talk to each other, it is not my fault. You better have a talk to the member for Katherine.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, at least we get some quality questions, not like the boring questions …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order!
Mr VATSKALIS: Fishing is very popular in the Territory …
Mr Mills: So the truth does not matter. It is the heart of Labor. Lies. What else would you call it?
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I ask the member for Blain to withdraw, please.
Mr TOLLNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The member for Blain did not direct that comment personally at any particular individual. He made a general comment, and there is no point of order.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, I ask you to withdraw, knowing that when you make a comment in general like that about the government, it is not appropriate except by way of substantive motion.
Mr MILLS: Madam Speaker, it was not about government. It was about Labor, and the capacity to just smile and disregard any reference to the truth.
Madam Speaker, that is the point, and if you ask me to withdraw that - I did not, unless anyone feels that that is a personal slight on them, as obviously they do …
Madam SPEAKER: I have to say that the level of interruptions is such that it is very hard to even hear some of the actual comments. I will allow it on this occasion, Leader of the Opposition. But if the interruptions and interjections can be kept to a bare minimum, please. Who is actually on their feet? It is very hard to follow and it is very loud from up here, let me tell you.
Mr VATSKALIS: Thank you, Madam Speaker. Fishing is very popular in the Territory, more than any other destination. It is a way of life for so many Territorians. In my electorate, one person in four owns a boat. It makes me very jealous because, unfortunately, I am the minister for Fisheries and cannot go fishing. We attract more fishing tourists than other jurisdictions. It is estimated that approximately $1bn is spent in the Territory through fishing - buying equipment, petrol, accommodation, and spending on tourism. It is a significant contributor to the Territory economy. Recreational fishing in the Territory is growing. We need to ensure that the fishing experience available today continues in the future.
We are buying back barramundi licences. We have promised that when we buy three barramundi licences and close down the Bynoe Harbour and the Finniss River, and we intend to do that. We have a comprehensive survey of recreational fishing activity currently under way and, in the next two years, we expect to find out what impact, if any, recreational fishing has on our fishing resources. We spent $470 000 on this. The outcome of the survey will ensure that recreational fishing remains sustainable into the future, not only for us, for our children, but for our grandchildren.
We have seen the mistakes made in other states where indiscriminate recreational fishing has wiped out fishing resources. A very good example is in Western Australia near Monkey Mia. With the development of new equipment, boats can go a long way from the coastline and, with GPSs, people can target exactly where they fished a week ago, a month ago, two months ago, and they can hammer the resource. As a result, the Western Australia government put restrictions on how many people can fish, how often they can fish, and they even closed whole areas where the resource had been hammered by recreational fishing.
We also believe that we have to have a plan for the future of fishing, and that is why we established a community-based working group to develop a recreational fishing development plan.
We have committed to improving facilities for recreational fishing. Recently, we opened the state-of-the-art boat ramp at Hudson Creek. The reason we had to spend all this money was because a previous CLP government sold the existing boat ramp to a private company. They sold it, and we were forced to negotiate with that private company for two years for anglers to use this facility before we built ours.
In 2009-10, we will be spending $4m to upgrade the Palmerston boat ramp, putting in a security compound, security lighting, and power and lighting to the ramp. We want to provide access points throughout the Territory, not only in Darwin. We have increased demand from recreational anglers, the charter companies, and people who want to go fishing. In addition to that, we have put $1m per annum for four years to improve recreational fishing access and infrastructure.
I thank AFANT, especially Mr Chris Makepeace. He went with officers of my department to nearly every boat ramp around the Territory, inspected it, and made comments. My department, together with the Department of Planning and Infrastructure, will commence to repair, upgrade and provide new facilities - and not only what the men of the family wants, but what the women want. In some of the areas, the biggest demand was from women who wanted proper toilets. We have commenced that and have put in proper toilets. Believe it or not, women now make up a big part of the recreational lobby.
As I said before, we have done a lot for recreational fishing. We believe that recreational fishing is very important for the Territory. Unfortunately, members of the opposition do not think so. I was severely criticised by the member for Katherine for closing Fog Bay, despite the fact that his leader supported me in the beginning when I closed it, and he supported me again after AFANT supported me. I thank him for that. I appreciate when he is honest, comes out, and does some good …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order! Member for Daly, cease interjecting.
Mr Westra van Holthe: You would not have a clue.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, member for Katherine!
Mr VATSKALIS: Madam Speaker, I thank very much the legislative expert on fishing from Katherine for his opinion.
The reality is, before I proceeded to close that area, I sought the advice of the department; I read the act, and it was clearly within my capacity and powers as the minister to stop an illegal activity taking place - an activity that embarrassed us throughout the world. Photographs that were taken are circulating in newspapers everywhere. It was in my power and I decided to act decisively.
I thank the Leader of the Opposition, when he does the right thing. If we have to do the right thing, we have to do the right thing. If you do not talk to each other, it is not my fault. You better have a talk to the member for Katherine.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016