Marine parks -- more consultation called for

The Australian Recreational Fishing Foundation (ARFF) and the Commonwealth Fisheries Association (CFA) have strengthened their calls for genuine consultation on Commonwealth marine park plans.

ARFF and CFA have repeatedly sought assurances from, and written to, Minister Burke asking for, genuine stakeholder consultation on the important issue of marine park management plans.

Allan Hansard, Managing Director of ARFF said: "We were disappointed when we received the departmental response that effectively said they had received thousands of 'tick and flick' emails and that this equalled a thorough consultation. It’s simply not good enough, for an issue that impacts on so many Australian recreational fishers."

Trixi Madon, Chief Executive Officer of the CFA says that: "The professional fishing industry was disappointed there had been no face-to-face stakeholder consultative meetings to explain the management plans or plan components still to be developed. We question how meaningful these consultative processes really are when they involve complex rules and regulations, and seek inputs from Australians living in all areas of the nation."

According to the ARFF, there have not been any face-to-face meetings or consultations about the management plans in any port or town around Australia. This definitely is not good public policy.

Both the ARFF and CFA believe Minister Burke has been rushing the process to meet a political agenda which is no longer driven by the Greens. Now that the Labor/Green alliance has been dissolved, Mr Hansard and Ms Madon today both called on Minister Burke to put things right, to return to core Labor Party values and to instigate a proper and genuine consultation process; one that involves face-to-face consultation with the people who will be directly affected by the marine park management plans.