Claims that banning commercial net fishing is necessary to protect the Great Barrier Reef and tourism jobs ignores the human cost of unnecessary and harsh government intervention, and also raises serious national security questions for North Queensland.

In just a short time, Labor will ban live sheep exports to the protein-starved Middle East, deprive Murray-Darling farmers of enough water to irrigate 100,000 hectares of prime growing land, remove funding for important new agricultural water projects in North Queensland, give the green light for wind farms and power lines to limit activity on  farms and offshore fishing, and announced a ban on commercial net fishing.

Shadow Minister for Northern Australia, Senator Susan McDonald, said she was shocked when the hearings revealed the Federal Environment Minister and the Fisheries Minister had not sought advice on banning gillnets from the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) or the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) before a letter was sent to UNESCO announcing the bans.

Federal Shadow Minister for Northern Australia, Senator Susan McDonald, and Federal Shadow Environment Minister, Jonno Duniam, have warned lovers of Australian seafood, meat and produce that the Albanese Government’s determination to appease UNESCO will result in food shortages, higher costs and more pain for primary producers.