Labor is being urged to cut its crippling red tape to help drive investment in Queensland’s $80 million aquaculture industry and create regional jobs.
Shadow Fisheries Minister Deb Frecklington said the Palaszczuk Labor Government had been sitting on its hands and done nothing with the former LNP government’s report, which recommended overhauling regulations to identify suitable locations and streamline development approvals.
“At a time when regional Queensland is crying out for investment and jobs, Labor has been sitting on yet another major report that shows how real progress could be made,” Ms Frecklington said.
“Many coastal communities suffering from lack of investment and job opportunities, including Maryborough, Bundaberg, Gladstone, Rockhampton and Mackay, could potentially benefit.”
Ms Frecklington said Labor’s previous Fisheries Minister Bill Byrne had admitted the report from the Queensland Competition Authority had been ‘sitting on his desk’.
“Aquaculture is the world’s fastest growing animal food-producing sector, outpacing population growth, yet in Queensland we’re being left behind.
“The Palaszczuk Government needs to act on the report which found aquaculture was a high potential, value-added industry which can, in the right locations, deliver superior returns to many traditional crops.”
The QCA report found that while the industry had been growing at a respectable four per cent a year, its full potential was not being realised.
The QCA found cutting regulatory uncertainty was essential to attracting more investment and proposed reforms to give investors more certainty about the best prospective sites for land-based aquaculture and the conditions for approving projects.
Ms Frecklington said Queensland was being left behind as other states created ‘development areas’ for marine aquaculture to encourage investment.
“Everyone accepts the Great Barrier Reef needs the highest protection, but all the necessary protections and checks are available for land-based aquaculture in Queensland.”
She said preliminary work had been done to identify appropriate sites, taking into account environmental, social and economic factors.
“The Labor Government needs to get cracking on this by simplifying the layers of local, state and, sometimes, Commonwealth regulation, because it can be difficult for investors to identify all the conditions a project will need to meet.
“We need a co-ordinated effort and real leadership from the Palaszczuk government, certainly not another review, taskforce or committee to look into it.”
