queensland Great Barrier Reef

[ellicat]

Found this on the NCF website courtesy of Squidgie.

Both these matters are both insane!!

Urgent - by midday Wednesday 27th Justice for 324 unfair Criminal records for fishing

Dear Gary

We beg for your help to make a phone call or send a fax to senators in Canberra by midday today Wednesday 27th. 1pm will be too late.

In the fist year or so after the Great Barrier Reef was rezoned, any person found fishing in a green zone copped a hefty fine (about $2000) and a compulsory criminal record An intentional or accidental legal glitch in the Act meant the Judge had no choice to be lenient on first offenders.

18 months later parliament fixed the error - still leaving a hefty fine. But this still left the first 324 ordinary recreational anglers with a Criminal record. That has all sorts of implications - getting jobs, insurance visas, holding a real estate licence etc etc.

Take the case of Peter Anton. A self confessed environmentalist he moved to Townsville to live out his retirement, sailing the reef of Townsville. One day he left a fishing line trailing behind when he cut the corner of green zone, was pulled over and charged. He didn’t catch a single fish and was told he would be fined. Peter did the honest thing and pleaded guilty – only to find he received a Criminal conviction.

He feels his life is ruined. At his age he has never been in trouble with the law. Now a as criminal he can’t get boat insurance, has returned to Sydney to live and his boat remains tied up. He is crushed by a bureaucratic nightmare that should never have happened.

Lobbying governments hasn’t help to reverse these “convictions†- until now.

Senator Fielding (Family First) had a go at this issue a few months ago and on Tuesday put up a motion to be voted on Wednesday - today at about 2pm. The full wording is down below, but basically the motion is that the Senate calls on the government to fix the mess ( the fines will stay, just the convictions cancelled)

To get this motion up we need the vote of half the Senate. Here is where you come in.

We need you to make a call to as many Senators from your State as possible. Call and leave a message. Something like†please ask the Senator to vote YES to the motion to fix those unfair convictions of fishermen.†Or you could send faxes.

While you are at it, there is a second motion - to put the Great Barrier Reef Amendment Bill into a committee for further consideration. These Amendments give the authorities even more power to shut down fishing WITHOUT any science at all. And changes the goals for the reef from shared use ( including fishing) to ‘protection: before any other.

So can you also ask the Senators you call to vote YES to the motion to refer the GBRMPA Amendment BILL to a committee for consideration?

Please get stuck into it - and ask a few mates to make a few calls. Just leave a message “ as a Queenslander / SA/ Victorian etc I ask you to support the 2 motions of Senator Fielding -to cancel the unfair convictions of anglers and to refer this Bill to committee so it can be looked at more closely.

Thanks for your time. You can make a difference.

Gary

Who to call ?

Parliament House switchboard (8.30am) Phone: 02 6277 7111

Or click the links below

Australian Capital Territory

Humphries, Gary

Lundy, Kate

New South Wales

Arbib, Mark

Cameron, Doug

Coonan, the Hon Helen

Faulkner, the Hon John

Fierravanti-Wells, Concetta

Forshaw, Michael

Heffernan, the Hon Bill

Hutchins, Steve

Nash, Fiona

Payne, Marise

Stephens, the Hon Ursula

Williams, John

Northern Territory

Crossin, Trish

Scullion, the Hon Nigel

Queensland

Boswell, the Hon Ronald

Boyce, Sue

Brandis, the Hon George

Furner, Mark

Hogg, the Hon John

Joyce, Barnaby

Ludwig, the Hon Joe

Macdonald, the Hon Ian

McLucas, the Hon Jan

Mason, the Hon Brett

Moore, Claire

Trood, Russell

South Australia

Bernardi, Cory

Birmingham, Simon

Farrell, Don

Ferguson, the Hon Alan

Fisher, Mary Jo

Hanson-Young, Sarah

Hurley, Annette

McEwen, Anne

Minchin, the Hon Nick

Wong, the Hon Penny

Wortley, Dana

Xenophon, Nick

Tasmania

Abetz, the Hon Eric

Barnett, Guy

Bilyk, Catryna

Brown, Bob

Brown, Carol

Bushby, David

Colbeck, the Hon Richard

Milne, Christine

O'Brien, Kerry

Parry, Stephen

Polley, Helen

Sherry, the Hon Nick

Victoria

Carr, the Hon Kim

Collins, Jacinta

Conroy, the Hon Stephen

Feeney, David

Fielding, Steve

Fifield, Mitch

Kroger, Helen

McGauran, Julian

Marshall, Gavin

Ronaldson, the Hon Michael

Ryan, Scott

Troeth, the Hon Judith

Western Australia

Adams, Judith

Bishop, Mark

Cash, Michaelia

Cormann, Mathias

Eggleston, Alan

Ellison, the Hon Christopher

Evans, the Hon Christopher

Johnston, the Hon David

Ludlam, Scott

Pratt, Louise

Siewert, Rachel

Sterle, Glenn

NOTICE OF MOTION

SENATOR FIELDING

I give notice that, on the next day of sitting, I shall move that the Senate note:

(a) Four years ago more than 100 fishermen in Queensland were deemed criminals by the Federal Government for innocently dropping a fishing line in water which is part of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. These fishermen had a criminal conviction recorded against them and were fined $2500 each.

( These fishermen are your 'average Joes'. They're recreational fishermen; granddads taking their kids fishing or a group of mates in a 'tinnie'. What they have done, usually through ignorance or a lack of navigation skills, is simply drop a line in the wrong place, which does not warrant a criminal conviction.

© Two years ago the Federal Government admitted it was wrong to give criminal convictions and downgraded the offence to an infringement with an $1100 fine and no criminal conviction. However, the more than 100 fishermen originally convicted still have a criminal conviction recorded against their name.

(d) Having a criminal record can seriously damage a person's life. You're deemed in the eyes of the law to be a criminal which can make it impossible to get a job, insurance or a home loan. You can't travel to certain countries and can't get a licence for occupations like being a real estate agent or publican. Every government form requires you to declare if you have a criminal conviction.

The Senate calls on the Federal Government to fix this mess by making sure these fishermen are given a pardon and do not have the permanent stain of a criminal record to their names.

SENATOR FIELDING

Mr President

I give notice that on the next day of sitting I shall move:

that the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2008 be referred to the Senate Standing Committee on Environment, Communications and the Arts for inquiry and report by 10 November 2008.

Labor attacks Queensland lifestyle

Tuesday, 26 August 2008

Senator Joyce said today, “The latest bill called the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2008 is yet another attack on the rights and lifestyle of Queenslanders, especially North Queenslanders, and a complete slap in the face to North QLD after they delivered to Canberra a QLD Prime Minister, a QLD Treasurer and most seats from Gladstone up.

“This hands the Great Barrier Reef over to zealots, with the new objectionable catchall phrase of the “precautionary principle†in 12 Subsection 3(1).

“This legislation now incriminates allâ€Â:

9 Subsection 3(1)

Fishing means any of the following:

(a) searching for, or taking, fish;

( attempting to search for, or take, fish;

© engaging in any other activities that can reasonably be expected to result in the locating of, or taking of, fish;

(d) placing, searching for or recovering fish aggregating devices or associated electronic equipment such as radio beacons;

(e) any operations at sea directly in support of, or in preparation for, any activity described in this definition;

(f) aircraft use relating to any activity described in this definition except flights in emergencies involving the health or safety of crew members or the safety of a launch, vessel or floating craft of any description.

“According to this subsection of the bill, if a person is believed to be searching for fish they have committed a criminal act. So now if you could be reasonably expected to locate a fish you will be partaking in criminal activity. Without seeing it, I don’t think many people would believe it.

“This is the Labor party delivering to an Orwellian green nirvana and it is disgusting to see a number of Queenslanders who now, by reason of the indictment of this legislation, hold convictions against their name because they accidentally went fishing in the wrong place. You must understand that they don’t draw lines on the ocean to tell you where you can and cannot go.

“People must realise that if the “precautionary principle†as a form of law is allowed to go forward, then it threatens not only the fisherman on the Great Barrier Reef but all fishing zones around the country and, as a principle, takes our law to the farcical.

“Laws should be based on science, laws should be based on fact and laws should be based on socioeconomic statements. They should not be based on pure emotion. “Precautionary principle†is an emotional catchall that attacks the principles of good legislation. The 2006 Great Barrier Reef Marine Park review recommended the need for transparent scientific and socioeconomic analyses. This amendment bill completely ignores the Department of Environment’s review.

“I hope the people of North QLD take this fight up to Mr Rudd, Mr Swan and your local Labor members. And I hope that the people living on the coast around our nation understand the ramifications of this if it is ‘the one that gets away’.

“Fishing with your son or daughter on a Sunday afternoon should not involve a possible criminal conviction by reason of an emotional interpretation that cannot be sustained by economics or science but is based purely on what certain people believe is precautionary.

“I look forward to the public explanation of those who represent you in Canberra as to why this legislation is anything but bad news for North QLD, what will become bad news for Moreton Bay, and will certainly be bad news for any other fishing zone in Australia.â€Â

Ends

The above is happily reproduced here at the request of NCF

[Sparksie]

Thanks for posting this Ellicat...

Interesting reading.

Can't wait to see some of the *hit fights for infringements which may appear when new zones for Moreton Bay Marine Park kick off.

Yeah, George Orwell, missed the mark by about 30 years...I'll probably be taken away for picking my nose one day soon.

"Freedom is Slavery"

:dry:

[benno573]

just my two cents worth - this is f'ed up to the max. if a person is caught deliberately flauting the laws, fine, convict them and give them the stupid fine. if a person makes an honest mistake, a slap on the wrist is fine for a first offence. and probably the second. they don't mark green zones, they are constantly changing the GBRMP anyway, what is yellow one year can be green the next! the whole thing is further evidence of the governments ineffectual management of our fisheries - and the even less effective policing of supposed rationally determined "laws".