Thank you very much Mr Macdonald – Senator Macdonald the Minister for Fisheries and Forestry, Lionel Woodward the Director-General of Customs, Mr Collins the Regional Director, ladies and gentlemen.
The purpose of this little gathering this morning here in Sydney in this delightful spot in this wonderful Customs facility is to announce a major upgrading of Australia';s capacity to deal with illegal fishing operations within Australian waters and Australian territory. As a Government and as a nation, we take matters of border security very importantly and very seriously. Illegal fishing in the southern ocean is more than a fisheries'; issue. It is really an attack upon Australia';s sovereignty. And as a result of some recent experiences, and Senator Macdonald has highlighted some of those recent experiences, the Government has decided to enhance the existing patrol program with full-time armed patrols of the remote and ecologically sensitive southern ocean.
This program will be year round and will be operated by the Australian Customs Service with support from other Government agencies including the Australian Defence Force. With year round availability of a vessel, patrols will be able to be conducted in response to satellite, radar and other intelligence operations. Specifically, the Australian Customs Service will lease an ice strengthened vessel which will carry a deck-mounted 0.50 calibre machine gun, an armed Customs boarding party and Australian fishery officers.
The program will cost in the order of 40 to 50 million dollars a year over the next two years – the precise amount to be settled in the budget context. A longer-term patrol program will be developed to take over at the end of a two-year period. The program will provide the capacity to board vessels and use force if necessary and will help avoid the need to undertake long pursuits of illegal vessels in the future. Australian laws will also be enhanced to provide an even greater deterrent to illegal fishing and the organisers of illegal fishing operations. Penalties for illegal fishing, which the Government is currently legislating to increase to as much as $825,000, along with the greatly enhanced chance of protection and capture, should in future act as a much greater deterrent to illegal fishing operations in Australian waters.
Just as deterrence has worked very effectively, indeed remarkably, in relation to illegal immigration to this country, it will also be the case that the deterrent effect of this new capacity that I';m outlining this morning, and to which we are committing significant resources from the Commonwealth Government, will act as an effective deterrent to illegal fishing operations in our waters. The waters in the southern ocean that were described by Senator Macdonald are a very important part of the extended national sovereignty of this country and it';s very important that we see illegal fishing operations precisely for what they are – not only an attempt to take something that does not belong to the people who are attempting to take it, but also very much as an attack upon Australia';s sovereignty. And that is why we have decided to significantly upgrade our capacity to deal with that issue, to commit to the resources and to give to Customs and other agencies the additional wherewithal to deal with the problem on our behalf.
I would like before concluding to take this opportunity of thanking the Australian Customs Service. Indeed the very first ministry that I had way back in 1976 included the then Australian Customs Service and I have followed their progress ever since and the contribution that they make to protecting this country, not only from the scourge of drugs in cooperation with the Australian Federal Police and the state police forces, but also their operations in so many other areas that are so important to the protection of this country and the protection of its borders. And today';s announcement gives them an additional responsibility, but importantly it gives them the enhanced capacity to discharge that responsibility.
Now I';d like also before concluding to thank Senator Macdonald for his constant advocacy of the need for these increased resources and the vigilant way in which he has committed himself to protecting the great fishing resources of this country which are a valuable part of our assets as a nation. Thank you.
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