Tuesday 8th November 2016
Council’s amendments
Mr WALSH (Murray Plains) – The minister at the table obviously went into a very lengthy explanation about the bill. Given he actually did not say anything at all I might make a few comments on this. The amendments that are before us came back from the upper house. One was instigated by the Liberal Party and The Nationals; the other was instigated by the Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party. I suppose it goes to the issue of the skills that are required for a board of the new Victorian Fisheries Authority. Inserted into the other requirements are fishing industry operations experience and recreational fishing experience.
I suppose one of the things in moving the amendments that we did was to maintain the integrity of the bill in that those who have a current licence should not sit on the board but there are plenty of people out there with fishing industry operations experience who are not licence-holders now who could make a very good contribution to the board of the Victorian Fisheries Authority. I think the same can be said for the recreational fishing sector as well. There is a cautionary note about the recreational fishing sector in that it should be people who have a strong history and interest in recreational fishing but not necessarily those who operate major recreational fishing businesses at the moment because they obviously have a pecuniary interest as well. We as the opposition support these amendments and look forward to their passage through this house.