Shadow Minister for Northern Australia, Senator Susan McDonald, and Queensland seafood identities have warned the traditional Australian Easter fish banquet is under threat unless the Queensland and Federal Governments stand up to a UNESCO demand to ban net fishing and instead back the state’s well-regulated and sustainable commercial fishers.

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.