Bills

Marine Parks (Sanctuary Zones) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 15 October 2015.)

Mr PENGILLY (Finniss) (10:35): Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am glad we have cleared up where we are going here this morning. Thank you for the opportunity to rise in support of this bill. We have been through this before, and we have the opportunity now, by going through it again, to fix a dreadful wrong in South Australia. I am fed up with some of the stuff that has come out of the government on this. I am fed up with the spin job that has been put out there. The reality is that fishing people in regional towns are hurting, businesses are hurting, and it is simply not good enough.

You only have to look at the Port Wakefield situation. Part of Mr Bart Butson's family have had to move and go to the West Coast to fish because simply they cannot fish around Port Wakefield anymore. Down at Cape Jervis, where a good proportion of professional fishers operate, they are ringing me on a weekly basis saying that their lives, businesses and families are falling apart because they are simply not able to catch the fish that they were catching.

If you go over to Kangaroo Island, it is even worse, and I will give you an example. On the long weekend, in Kingscote, the Caltex service station which was alongside the fish shop had 200 people looking for fish and chips, according to the staff in there, and they could not get it because the fish and chip shop has shut. Jobs have gone. The fish and chip shop in Kingscote simply cannot get the fish that were being provided by the local fishermen. The fish are not available anymore. The tommy ruffs and fish like that which the net fishermen were catching are not there. The price of whiting is just too high for a lot of working families to buy for fish and chips. It is just unrealistic. It just does not work.

It has been a very sad 12 months for a lot of people. I do not know what is going to happen this year with the rock lobster industry. We have lost boats from the Island fishery. The licences for rock lobster fishing boats have been sold out to other northern zone fishing people. We have lost boats and we have lost jobs—that is simply the reality of it. It is pretty straightforward. Jobs have gone from that area. Jobs may have gone to the West Coast, where they do not have the same imposition to the extent there is around the Island but, if the government set out to knock fishing businesses around, scale fishing jobs, net fishermen and rock lobster fishermen, they have done a good job because it has knocked it around. It is simply unrealistic for the government not to approach this.

There was then this report that was brought out not long ago, in which the minister in another place said that this was not having any economic impact. I do not know what day they got up, but the fact is this has had an enormous impact. I am only talking about my electorate. Others in this place will talk about the impact on their electorates, such as the West Coast, Yorke Peninsula, not so much the South-East, of course. The number of sanctuary zones have had a hideous effect on my electorate. Let me say again that we have never, ever been opposed to marine parks. We actually—

Mr Goldsworthy: It was our idea.

Mr PENGILLY: It was our idea from day one. The government picked it up and we went along with it. I do not want to go over all the history of the consultation or non-consultation, or what did or did not happen. It was a sad indictment on what is a terrible government and it has now had a dramatic effect after 12 months in place.

This was never, ever meant to be about fishing; it was about the marine environment. We supported the marine environment side of it, but both the recreational and professional fishermen were hoodwinked, and we now have this catastrophic mess which we are endeavouring, once again, to bring into the chamber and have something done about so that people can get back into their businesses, we can crank up businesses again, people can earn a living and the tourism industry can expand again. We may even have a fish and chip shop in Kingscote again.

It is ludicrous for the government to spend money on tourism promotion when you cannot even get a feed of fish and chips. It is absolutely ridiculous. It is all very well to push the attractions of $1,800 a night top end accommodation which is fantastic, but mum, dad and the kids who want to go for a holiday and go out for a feed of fish and chips at night on KI cannot get one in Kingscote. Hello! What on earth are they on about?

The fact of the matter is that we have to put up this bill again and see if we can get some sense out of the government. I do not know what is going on behind the scenes in the government. You would not know. There seems to be about two people running this government and that is about it. The arrogance is completely supreme. It is a government out of control as far as arrogance goes.

Meanwhile, good people are hurting. Good people cannot feed their families. Good people cannot buy fish and chips in some places, and it is inexcusable. Those on the other side should hang their head in shame at the outcome of what happened 12 months ago. You do have the chance to fix it up by the removal of some of these zones. You do have the chance to fix it up and I would urge members on the government's side to get onto their executive, their ministers, and urge them to bring some common sense back into this debate and do something about it.

Pick up some of the ideas that we have come up with that are quite workable. You know as well as I do that the opposition supports much of the legislation that comes into this place. We debate it sensibly, we put up amendments, we win a few and we lose a few. But the marine park sanctuary zones are an opportunity for the government to set to rights something they have completely made a mess of, to put things back into perspective and to get people back into work. I urge the house to support this bill and fix up what is a dreadful wrong.

Mr GARDNER (Morialta) (10:42): I am very pleased to be supporting the member for Goyder's bill, the Marine Parks (Sanctuary Zones) Amendment Bill. This is something that the government has been opposing for over a year now. I note that there are two Independent ministers in the government and it is important that they take very seriously this debate, particularly the Minister for Regional Development who, prior to the election, identified this as a specific issue, that he would work hard to be on the side of what this bill seeks to achieve.

However, last year, when he could have made a difference, prior to the by-elections, he chose to ignore what he had told the people of his electorate before the election and opposed the bill. That was a great shame. I hope that he will reconsider. Even though the numbers are different in the house, he must reconsider. It is incumbent on him to do so, given that he has said that he is an Independent and not just going to do whatever he is told by the government. That is on him.

We have people in Port Wakefield, on KI, fishing communities and fishing families who are suffering as a result of the government's measures, and I am pleased that a number of them have taken the opportunity to visit North Terrace this morning and lend their support to the opposition bill. I think that we are unlikely to have a vote on this matter this morning but, when that vote comes, the member for Frome will know that his community wants him to support this bill. It is incumbent upon him to do so because of what he said before the election, and he will be held to account. I commend the bill to the house.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mr Speirs.