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The Hon. ROBYN PARKER [6.00 p.m.]: I speak on behalf of the many residents of Port Stephens, the Hunter, Lake Macquarie and surrounding areas who have written to me, rung my office and yesterday protested outside Parliament House about the establishment of marine parks in our area. The Minister for Natural Resources announced that we were going to have a marine park. There has been little consultation; it was a fait accompli. The residents are very concerned but not fooled by the marine park proposal put forward by the Minister. They know that the proposal is about attracting voting preferences away from the Greens. It has very little to do with scientific evidence that a marine park is required because of small fish stocks or because of precedents. It has very little to do with facts but a lot to with political manoeuvering. As we have seen in other areas, this proposal can come undone.
In a 2001 scientific study, the CSIRO reported that the use of marine-protected areas as fishery enhancement projects is questionable. Lock-outs do not work. At Cape Byron, where a marine park has been imposed on the area, people have lost 60 per cent of the rocks and nearly 100 per cent of the offshore reefs. The Government's marine park proposal is more about winning preference votes from the Greens so that Labor can be re-elected. It is all about shoring up votes in Port Stephens and Myall Lakes. It is about votes for the absent and silent member for Port Stephens, John Bartlett. He is nowhere to be found to speak -on this issue, other than weakly saying he supports marine parks. What about supporting the people in Port Stephens who catch fish, the tourists, the boating enthusiasts, the people whose livelihood depends on the fishing industry? He seems to care little about them, but he seems to care greatly about Greens' preferences.
Before any consultation took place in July 2005 the Government set up offices at a cost of $400,000, it wrote 147 pages on its web site and it spent nearly $1 million on advancing the marine park. That is not the action of a government that has not made a decision about the marine park's future. We know this proposal is a fait accompli. The Government's glossy brochure headed "What is the planning process?" states:
The planning process from announcement to implementation … involves consultation associated with the preparation of discussion papers …
It goes on and on. The reality is that consultation took place over the Christmas and New Year period. The deadline for submissions was already set and people were given six weeks to lodge their submissions. It is like sending a survey to students' parents during the Christmas and New Year break. That is the time of the year when people are busy and on holidays. Allowing just six weeks for local communities and businesses to have a say on the zones proves that the New South Wales Labor Government is not interested in public opinion.
From the beginning, Labor has kept coastal communities and the recreational and commercial fishing industry in the dark about its plans and it seems determined to keep it that way. It is a joke for the Minister to say that there has been consultation. To give the many individuals and communities who rely on the fishing industry just six weeks to have their say is unreasonable.
What will happen if there is overwhelming opposition to the marine park? The people who have written submissions tell me they are opposed to it. They will show their opposition at the ballot box and no amount of Greens' preferences will help the honourable member for Port Stephens, who has put up a weak defence of his area. People are outraged and consider the Government's proposal un-Australian. They want to go fishing with their children and their grandchildren. When they go boating they do not want to have to go three kilometres offshore to drop a line. That is what this proposal is about. When a marine park has been established in other areas extensive consultation has taken place. Where it has occurred in places like Byron Bay we have seen the plan go wrong. The Port Stephens Fishing Co-operative, the commercial fishing industry and the recreational fishers are very concerned and they will show their concern at the ballot box.