Media Release

KATTER’S Australian Party federal leader Bob Katter has branded the LNP’s plan to buy back commercial fishing licences as another nail in Australia’s food security coffin.

Mr Katter said he understood why commercial fishermen would take the offer because the greenie monster had made it impossible to make a living by imposing too many rules and regulations.

But he said the real tragedy was that it was rapidly taking us up the path of being a net importer of seafood.

"All this policy does is give commercial fishermen a lolly but it comes at the expense of long

‐term substance," he said.

"Their industry has suffered a death by a thousand cuts because of all the rules and regulations. The flood of imports has meant that they have not been able to make a quid.

Mr Katter said 82 per cent of Australia’s seafood is imported and closing down fishing is only going make matters worse.

"When people buy Australian caught fish, they know exactly what they are getting – a clean, healthy product," he said.

"But it’s a very different story with imported seafood. We don’t know under what conditions the seafood has been grown under and we don’t know what chemical have been used or added.

"It’s a huge health risk."

Mr Katter said the LNP should be supporting Australian industry and not undermining it by burdening it with green tape.