Wednesday, 2 April 2025

 Bill TILLEY (Benambra) (19:17): (1109) I wish to raise a matter for the Minister for Environment, and the action I seek is for the minister to explain to the constituents of Benambra district and in fact every district and region throughout Victoria how the ongoing security and sustainability of fishing can be guaranteed with the proposed drastic reduction of fisheries officers under the clause 11 proposal put forward by the Victorian Fisheries Authority. The proposal risks national and international codes and agreements and threatens irreversible damage to Victoria’s aquatic ecosystems. Has this government even attempted a risk assessment?

The Benambra district has some of the best fisheries in the state, as does my colleague over in Gippsland – I love fishing over in his part of the world as well. World-renowned areas are now in jeopardy of overfishing and poaching occurring due to the lack of enforcement activities. Under the proposal, the Wodonga fisheries officer will be working on his own and reporting to a supervisor at Tatura, over 200 kilometres away, not to mention the significant OH&S risk of working one up. You do not do it to the coppers, so why would you do it to the fisheries officers? Members of the Dartmouth Community Progress Association put it perfectly to me in that they fear for their waterways, such as the Dartmouth Dam, Lake Banimboola and the Mitta Mitta River, which all generate much-needed local economic activity. Their biggest fear is the lack of control of the most dangerous predator on the planet: greedy humans. Compliance comes from enforcement, pure and simple, and anyone who does not think that that is the case is just deluding themselves.

It has been claimed that fishing compliance is at 90 per cent across the state of Victoria. With over 1 ‍million recreational fishers, this means a staggering 100,000 people are noncompliant with fishing legislation. What does the future hold for sustainable fishing in Victoria? What is proposed for Benambra is no different to what is happening across the state. How is closing fisheries stations at Cowes, Mornington, Altona North, Queenscliff and Braeside going to ensure appropriate enforcement in those areas? To say the Victorian Fisheries Authority is going to create a major fisheries crime unit is misleading at best. It is just renaming six operatives, soon to be reduced to four, who cover the whole state now.

Tim Bull interjected.

Bill TILLEY: You cannot do it. Recently, a crew of poachers were caught red-handed at Altona by fisheries officers, and they were asked by the crooks, ‘What are you guys doing here? We heard you all got the sack.’ This will be a scene that is repeated all over Victoria under this poorly disguised government-mandated cost-cutting exercise. I have not even mentioned the massive threat to marine national parks and sanctuaries. Victoria is blessed with some of the most spectacular fisheries in the country, and it is incumbent upon the government of the day to protect them. The Victorian government needs to step up and fulfil its obligations through the responsible minister and stop this insane reduction in enforcement capabilities.