*********************************
PRESS RELEASE
A certain Nationals Federal Queensland Senator thought this media release would be of interest to you.
13th April 2011
$20 million – not enough
Senator Queensland today promised the Labor Government “the mother of all campaigns” in every coastal seat in Australia over the government’s looming plans for massive marine reserves.
A story leaked to the Fairfax press this week “as a toe in the water” suggests the Government has set aside $20 million to compensate professional fishermen for fishing bans in the vast South-West Bioregion, stretching from the Fleurieu Peninsular in South Australia to north of Perth in Western Australia.
“What the Government needs to understand is that the people who are telling them that $20 million will be adequate are the people who advised the previous government that a handful of millions would compensate for fishing bans associated with the rezoning of the Great Barrier Reef marine Park in 2004.
“That bill reached over $220 million.”
Senator Queensland said professional and recreational fishermen needed to contradict a claim in the government’s leaked outline of the South-West constraints that reaction from fishing interests to the plans would be “muted.”
“I personally give an iron-clad guarantee the response will not be muted,” Senator Queensland said.
“This fight will be carried into every coastal seat in the country with a determination and a vigour that will unseat any Labor member within coo-ee of the coast, and deny Labor any chance of winning many more.
“The government is planning to use fishermen as a sop to the Greens, who are demanding that vast areas of Australia’s Exclusive Economic Zone be locked up.
“The Labor government in South Australia is already engaging in complementary zoning, ahead of the federal announcement, in ways that suggests what’s coming will play to the greens.
“There was also a hint in the story that there will be very strong protection for the Coral Sea, which is again in line with formal demands of the Greens.
“A tough anti-fishing regime in the South-West, followed by big constraints in the Coral Sea, will be the political obituary for any Labor politician in any coastal seat in every state and territory.”
ENDS
***************
Also, we are not in Queensland, or any of the states mentioned directly in the release.
Finally, our local member, Mark Coulton, and all the Federal members in our broad listening area, are National Party representatives. As we have no Labor party representatives, the note of their unseating is completely pointless.
Thanks for your time. Please stop wasting mine.
Kind regards,
Noni Doll
Reception
