Dodgy Petitions?

[Andrew Laming]

G'day guys,

No doubt a few of you would have seen the rec fishing petitions being circulated by State Member for Redlands John English calling on the Environment Minister to leave Point Talburpin open to fishermen.

It turns out identical petitions are being circulated by other State Labor Members in a couple of other electorates and were actually drafted up by staff in the Environment Minister's own office.

My concern is that these petitions are more about the wellbeing of Labor MPs than the wellbeing of the fishing community.

Thought I'd post a copy of a letter to the editor of the Bayside Bulletin from a local bloke to give you an idea how some of the locals have taken it.

Dear Sir,

It appears my local Member, John English, is promoting a petition in an attempt to alter fishing zones in Redland Bay and Victoria Point. Mr. English had ample opportunity to seek information from the EPA during the consultation period.
He didn't even make a submission.

Why the sudden change of direction now?

The sustainability of "The Bay" is an issue which must transcend politics. If MPs are allowed to use their privileged position to run petitions sanctioned by the Minister who actually makes the decision on closures, science goes out the window at the expense of our bay’s and kid’s futures.

Ultimately, it seems closures end up being determined by political rather than sustainability issues. Is this an insight into how our Government operates?
I am now questioning the integrity of the entire Moreton Bay Marine Park review.

When self interest threatens our future it is time to stand up and be counted.

Peter Watson,
Victoria Point

[Mike Delisser]

So does dodgy mean illegal Andrew and we shouldn't sign them?
Cheers
Mike

[FNQCairns]

Well Mr Watson does have one bit near right.

It's well know the Green Zones are political in their entirety, based on preservationist ideology. If it were about sustainability any thought of these society robbing zones would be deferred until bay sustainability had even a hint of a real but measurable environmental issue.

But I don't understand the approach Andrew, conidering the zones are preservationist in ideology wouldn't the petition/s be good news for all that will be disaffected by these zones.

cheers fnq

[Lucky_Phill]

The way I read it Scott is that the labour MP's were not interested in making submissions on behalf of themselves or their constituents prior to the election, but since then we have a lot of support for " sustainability " methods of introducing Green Zones and now the MP's are trying to woo the residents of Redland Bay and surrounds by making up a petition.

Trouble being that a process is in place and if a MP can go ' outside ' this system, then the whole process is " tarnished ". The call by the letter writer to have the Moreton Bay Marine Park reviews integrity called to issue is spot on, considering what the local MP's are up to.

As a matter for the record, we recreational anglers do not oppose Green Zones in Moreton Bay, we oppose the positioning, process, emotional influence by the radical green movement, non-science based decisions and political interference. We oppose the fact that green zones are not being implimented to create a sustainable fishery when the zones do not address the major hurdle to sustainability and that is Pollution. ( pollution encompassing foreshore development, urban run off, heavy metals etc )

all IMO only.

Cheers Phill

[Lucky_Phill]

I must add that because of the " amateurish " implementation process and ' irish " way of doing this, a number of recreational anglers have been starting their own artificial reefs , much to the detriment of trawlers.

The trawlers having been pulling up tons of shopping trolleys, fridge frames, washing machines and the like. WHY, because this Governments refusal to listen to commonsense and start at the start.

Put the arti's in the right place, then collect ya data , then propose the Green Zones. They simply cannot take away without giving when there is NO problem apart from the problem they will not address.... pollution.

I must say, I do not condone the placing of artis' by recreational anglers in Moreton Bay. There will be a consultation period for this to be discussed with stakeholder groups.... and hopefully the Government will take notice and these happening asap. Well, sooner than asap..........


phill

[FNQCairns]

Thanks Phill it's a political twist I am having trouble getting my head around, any help is good help if genuine although it does seem disingenuous at this stage in the process even for MPs.

I don't have a good understanding of the grass roots MB situation but the not against green zones stance sounds near exactly the same as the 'official' position recfisherman took during our RAP, it was said during and after that it is/was a mistake that played directly toward their design.

cheers fnq

[Lucky_Phill]

Yes Scott, I know what you mean, thing is the MB situation is a little different from GBRMP's up your way.

You guys got screwed big time. Down here we are looking at providing a sustainable fishery with a different approach.

The DPI&F have managed our bay for some time and things are rosey, the only downfall is the amount of foreshore development, heavy metal run of, drainage pollution and more that affects our fishery.

We have a huge population base and it needs to be satisfied in regard to fish stocks for recreational anglers as well as commercial fishermen.

With the development of aquaculture farms around here, our supply is enough for this area, unfortunatley, we got it tooooo right and most product goes OS, commanding a much higher price.

We also have a huge land -reclaimation going on in respect of Wharves and extended runway, this runway is going to be CUT straight through a Green Zoned mangrove habitat and 1.5 million tons of Moreton Bay seabed, dredged up and used as fill. FFS !

Our theory, this is SOBA inc and NOT MBAA, is that Green Zones should be placed in areas to protect habitat nurseries etc, not put in an area just because anglers wet a line there, as what happened in NQ. WE are also highly recommending artificial reefs with no go zones to Divers.

WE have looked at but need info on Seagrass farming, that is ' replacing and growing Seagrass in areas that once had it and or have been wiped out by pollution. Obviously we need to solve the pollution problem first..... NO,,, I repeat.... NO attention has been paid to this issue by the Gov in respect of the MBMP review.... WTF !

The other side issue is compensation, you we know the results of the closures up there and the Gov are holding out $2mill or is it $4 for compensation down here.... trouble being the " fishery " is many, many times larger than NQ.

Considering you guys have recieved over 220 mill and counting, the payout down here will be slightly under 1 BILLION... of taxpayers money cause a emotional, preference grabbing, promise breaking, head-in -the-sand approach by this current Government... jeez, all this at 6.30am , I just woke up. Better go to work and take it out on the workers

Cheers Phill

all IMO only................
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[Bowser]

If these petitions are being drafted in the Ministers office, as seems highly likely, then it is another example of the moral bankruptcy of the Labor government in general and Bligh in particular and illustrates the lengths that they will go to, to prostitute themselves for the sake of the green votes and to stay in power. It appears that English et al are taking a "stand" now to prop up their support and overcome the backlash of fishing voters against the bastardised process of establishing the green zones. The fishing community has bent itself over backwards in trying to remain positive to the implementation of the green zones but is just a pawn in the continuation of the self indulgence of Beattie and Bligh. They have allowed the state and its services to run down, done absolutely nothing about the real causes of degradation of the bay and use the band aid of the green zones to cow tow to the greens, both radical and conservative. There is an election due in the next year, be prepared to see the zones and the “rebellion” of the Labor members bandied about in the lead up to this. I would urge all fishermen to remember that these parasites didn’t give a hoot about the zones when they were being structured and are only now crawling out of their holes to wave the banner of seeming protest when it appears that their electoral chances are going to be affected by them.

[dazza]

hi all,
very interesting letter appeared in our local rag from the member from pummicestone carryn sullivan, she is on the petition bandwagon.
wish i could find the paper.
she is spruiking that every effort has been made to wind back the tripcony bight green zone. will be interesting to see the washup.
bear in mind pummicestone is a fairly marginal electorate and the lib's gave her a pretty good run last time.
i think the petition starters are a bit worried about the backlash, but they can go to the next election and say "we tried". tried my arse, too little too late
cheers
dazza

[Derek Bullock]

Is this it http://caboolture-shire-herald.where...to-lobby-govt/

[fish-n-dive]

I downloaded a couple of petitions today and was surprised to find that the one from the Dept of Environment, Water Heritage and the Arts was 24 pages long.........I think they had prior notice even with all the public servants they have working for them.

What a crock of mumbo jumbo they offered..........

What saddens me is the .gov will probably equate this to a real submission and real science...............

I know I'm cynical but the proof is in the eating..........

It will be interesting to see how this piece of rubbish holds up against genuine people........

[Shane Boese]

It turns out identical petitions are being circulated by other State Labor Members in a couple of other electorates and were actually drafted up by staff in the Environment Minister's own office.

Interesting possibility - why would the Environment Minister's staff draft the petition in the first place?

Could it be that they are already aware of intended changes to the Draft Plan regarding Moreton Bay by the EPA, and are using that information prior to its release to make State MP's in the affected areas look good?

Regards
Shane Boese

[JIMBO99]

Jimbo99
I am from a family that has been professional fishing in moreton bay for four generations and the fifth generation is just about ready to take up the profession, but it will not happen because the closures and go slow areas are so restricting on professional fishermen that there will not be enough bay left for them to fish in and still all make a living.
when the government closed the bay to ring netting of mackrel, my brother and his two sons were left holding about $60,000 dollars worth of especially made bundels of mono net, which they still have because they cannot sell it. when the governments ( all Varieties included )closed certain areas the fishermen said, " Where are we going to fish, and how about compensation ? " the answer was,
" in the other parts of the bay that aren't covered by exclusions, and you will not be getting compensation for anything because we have only closed part of the bay " We may all talk about protests, and petitions, but when they are presented to government, they will probably be cut into 100 x 100mm pieces and hung in the members toilets, they will then claim they are saving us all by recycling paper.
god bless us one and all, and grant us three loves and five fishes. Jimbo.

[oldboot]

I think the government is ( hopefully) in the process of a sneaky back flip.

Our shifty minister for sustainability or whatever......didn't show much interest in the rec anglers position..... untill he got wind of a public rally......and low and behold he pops up bright and early........talking a lot about what "we" want and dont want.

Now I get a little note ( some months later) thanking me for my submission and telling me that there were.... thousands of submissions......i recon they are still chewing on that lot........

So I think they have realised that there are a few of us that fish and care....AND VOTE....so they are realising they have to do a sneaky backflip or something... hence the "dodgy petitions".

FOR us this is a good indicator that we have been noticed.......we need to keep the preasure on and keep writing to our members........ and more
important remind them that we will remmber come election time

As for you MR Lamming...........this all sounds like a case of pots & kettles.
Sorry mate but you are still a politician . Thanks for raising the issue though.

cheers

[oldboot]

Oh... As for the "dodgy petition"... if it is in the correct form and it is legal and properly submitted.... it will have the same effect regardless
cheers