Marine park to save the coastline

[CEO]

  MINISTER REPLIES: STOP PRESS:
                              In response to urgent representations to the Minister, from ECOfishers, concerning the extreme green NPA's outrageous claims for more marine parks, ECOfishers today received the following reply;
     The Hon. Ian Macdonald says, "I have heard on the grapevine so to speak, about the release of a National Parks Association report in one form or another, I have no intention of proceeding down this path. That has been my attitude and remains so."
     Yet it seems Minister for Environment & Climate Change (DECC) Carmel Tebutt, has other intentions and is proceeding down that path.
      It begs the question yet again, just who is managing NSW fisheries???
  And ECOfishers have heard this standard type of response many times before, the latest being at Byron Bay, Batemans Bay and Port Stephens. Then a couple of months later, they announce their marine park! Not a reliable track record! We will post details later.

[CEO]

  And from a Sydney ECOfisher, whose other hobby is Parliament.
  "DOROTHY DIX JOINS THE DEBATE!  The Hon Robert Brown: My question without notice is directed to the Minister for Primary Industries, who is responsible for fisheries. Is the Minister aware of a proposal apparently being launched today by the National Parks Association for the world's first big city marine national park, stretching from Newcastle through Sydney to Wollongong and for a further marine park in the Eden bioregion? Is the Minister aware that the Minister for Climate Change and the Environment, has proposed to establish an expert committee to examine the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of existing marine national parks? Does the Minister understand the fears of amateur anglers that they will once again be locked out of hundreds of famous fishing spots, if the plan is implemented? Can the Minister inform the House if the state government supports this outrageous proposal? What will the Minister do to protect the interests of the almost one million licence holders in NSW?"

The Hon Ian Macdonald:  "I have heard on the grapevine, so to speak, about the release of a National Parks Association report in one form or another. I have no intention of proceeding down this path. That has been my attitude and remains so."

  This confirms our advice. Why did he duck the question concerning the expert committee to examine the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of existing marine parks? It has already been canned!