Recreational Fishers

Mr TRELOAR (Flinders) (15:00): My question is to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development. Can the minister update the house on how the Marshall government is supporting recreational fishers?

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE (Chaffey—Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development) (15:00): Yes, I can. I thank the member for Flinders for his very important question. He is a very, very strong advocate for one of the most important fishing sectors in the country over at Port Lincoln and surrounding areas. As the member for Flinders has rightly pointed out, the recreational fishing sector here in South Australia is a very important industry, and the Marshall Liberal government is delivering on another election commitment by giving better representation to the rec fishing sector.

We have announced a consultation period, from 31 August to 21 September, on a proposed model for the ministerial recreational fishing advisory council. What I can say is that we had 225 submissions to the advisory council and overwhelming support for the proposal to have an advisory council to me as the minister. Because of its support, we are now moving towards delivering on that model. The council will directly engage with me as minister on the big picture recreational fishing issues.

Sir, I know that you know, as an avid recreational fisher—as many are here in this chamber—that it's important that we have good representation on behalf of the 277,000 recreational fishers here in South Australia to acknowledge the importance of the industry and also to look at the policy settings. The council will be made up of nine people. There will be five individuals on the council with recreational fishers from the public who nominate, and these five people will be voted in by South Australian recreational fishers.

This is a first in Australia, giving recreational fishers the opportunity to vote and also to be a part of this advisory council. If you are a resident of South Australia and enjoy recreational fishing, you will be able to vote. As I said, of the five individual positions—a tackle shop owner, an inland fisher—there will be at least one female recreational fisher on the advisory council and hopefully more.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: I urge all recreational fishers to consider who they think would be best as a representative of their areas. Nominations for those individual members will open shortly. Four organisations will be represented and, as was previously noted during the election, RecFish SA, FishinSA, South Australian Fishing Alliance and RecfishCENTRAL will be able to nominate three people from those organisations. There must be at least one woman on each of those organisations who is nominated, so I think it's a very fair representation for a very important sector. Regarding the consultation results, 75 per cent—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: —of supporters said the process was first class, 80 per cent supported the nomination process and 82 per cent supported the voting process. Our consultation shows that recreational fishers are excited about a Marshall government's better representation for the recreational fishing sector here in South Australia.

I think it is really, really important that we are giving recreational fishers in South Australia the opportunity to work with government to better represent a sector that is critically important not only for the economy but for the wellbeing of those recreational fishers to fish sustainably, making sure that they have a voice to government and that when we are making policy settings they are good, driven policy settings on behalf of the 277,000 recreational fishers.