I boat, I vote: Your guide to the 2022 federal election

However, when it comes to policy proclamations that directly affect fishing and boating enthusiasts, there doesn’t yet appear to be much in the way of substance from any political party – apart from the one that has the word “fishing” in its name.

If you want to cast your vote so that it improves the lot of everyone who likes nothing more than hitting the water and dropping a line, here’s our guide to what the major players are offering.

We’re not going to weigh in on the merits of any of these, just present them as fact.  

Policies and political stances may change in the final days of the lead-up to Freedom Sausage Day, so the caveat as always is to use these words as a guide to help you kick off your own research into where you think your vote will carry the most weight.

As someone smarter than all of us once said, this election will ultimately be decided by voters. Wise words indeed.

In 2019 the Liberal Party promised $20 million dedicated to improving boating and fishing facilities throughout Australia. It swept back to power in the wake of that election.

That $20 million is back, sort of, as part of a “FBC” – the press release says “weekend fishos, boaties or the family going camping” – package to encourage more people to go outdoors and enjoy themselves.

The initial spend was for $20 million over five years, but here we are four years in re-promising the same amount of money that will spread out over another five years and across 100 new projects if the Morrison government is re-elected.

Recreational fishing contributes more than an estimated $18 billion ot the Australian economy each year, so a $20 million spend to make the whole experience better represents around 0.1 per cent portion of how much the sector brings in.

Last time around the Liberals also dedicated $5 million to a native fish management and recovery strategy for the struggling Murray-Darling river system, and said it would provide $3 million to the CSIRO for ecosystem research.

This time around, though, the treasury is managing the cost of almost two years of coronavirus pandemic support in balancing the budget, so the Liberals need to be careful how thinly they can spread their fishing and boating-related money.

The coalition formed with the Liberal Party pretty much renders the Nationals as an offshoot of its gracious host, with a policy portfolio that follows the party line.

Neither fishing nor boating get a single mention in National policy.

The highlight of Labor’s fishing and boating-friendly policy initiatives are currently limited to a single $200 million splash on restoring inland waterways to their former glory – an initiative that should also improve fish stocks.

According to the Albanese-led opposition, its Urban Rivers and Catchments Program “will provide grants for community groups, local and state government to fund projects which deliver improvements to water quality and the local environment, create improved open spaces for kids and families to enjoy and create local jobs”.

While some of the plan has merit, such as creating wetlands to filter urban water before it enters rivers and creeks, part of it is teasing out the fringes – things such as removing concrete walls to restore natural riverbanks.

It’s a far cry to the 2019 election when Labor went strong on trying to appeal directly to boaters and fishers with a $45 million package to support recreational fishing.

Labor also planned a number of other initiatives in the last election such as recreational fishing advisory groups, restoring native fish stocks and so on, but history put a sudden stop to all that.

All of the enticing fishing and boating proposals put forward in the 2019 election campaign are absent from this year’s, as are the scary plans to introduce new marine sanctuaries that would lock fishers out of more areas.

After a big scare ahead of the 2019 Federal Election when the Greens were wrongfully accused of pushing a platform to ban the use of live bait for fishing, there’s nothing in the Greens’ fishing policy for this year that would suggest the rumour mill is about to kick off again levelling the same accusations.

Of note, the Greens want to recognise the rights of First Nations people to access the waters around Australia, as well as the right to sustainably fish those waters.

Of note, though, the Greens want to introduce policies that it says will offer the “protection and conservation of key target and endangered marine species and elimination of fishery by-catch and habitat damage”.

While part of the blame for these issues is aimed at commercial fishers, the sights are also firmly set on the contribution recreational fishers make to the problem.

Of note, the Greens do want to improve fisheries for everyone, suggesting their management should be managed under a national rather than state-by-state framework “to maintain sustainable fish populations and fisheries, and to minimise negative environmental impacts of fishing”.

There’s also something about creating more marine sanctuaries that we’re guessing may keep boats and fishers at arm’s length, but we’re only speculating here. 

Fishing, as they say, is in the name, and the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party is very pro-fishing.

As well as doing everything they can to stop international access to Australian fish stocks, it’s a party that’s also deeply opposed to the creation or expansion of marine parks, Commonwealth lockouts from fishing grounds, and tip more money into recreational fishing as a whole.

The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party will als call for support for initiatives that introduce more people to recreational fishing.

It also wants more recreational access to more waters, the rights of fishers enshrined in federal laws, and to introduce fishing to schools.

Craig and Clive have been in our faces a fair bit in the lead-up to this – and come to think of it, the last – election espousing the need to grant Australians more freedom.

But how does this extend to anyone who boats or fishes?

The only bit of UAP policy we can see that will benefit fishers and boaters is the proposal for a 20 per cent tax concession for anyone who lives in Tasmania, or more than 200 kilometres from a capital city.

Come retirement time when you get out of the big smoke and kick back in your new life, if it’s in some far-flung fishing mecca then there’s some real economic benefit to how well you will be able to live your life.

If you bought a house as part of the move, the United Australia Party wants to make the first $30,000 in repayments on the new fishing shack fully tax-deductible.