What’s a fisho to do?

If we can believe the polls, then it looks certain we will have a coalition government in NSW after Saturday, March 26. However, while all the members of the lower house beaver away trying to make NSW a better place to live in, the real intrigue is the largely faceless inhabitants of the upper house.
Due to the quaint political system we operate under and as the shadow of Pauline Hanson keeps reminding us, it is conceivable that a single person could hold the balance of power with only 4.8 per cent of the vote. It is for this reason that the Greens target seats in the upper house so that they can pull more strings than their share of the vote would normally afford them.
From a fisher’s point of view, there is good news and bad news about the Coalition winning this election.
Catherine Cusack, whilst a Liberal MLC, is painted a bright shade of green and will become environment minister. She is going to have her work cut out for her considering that, after years of mismanagement, our National Parks are a National Disgrace.
Unfortunately for fishos she also sees marine parks as lines on a map rather than examining the need for fishing bans. That’s the bad news.
The good news starts with Duncan Gay. He also is a coalition MLC and for some time has been one of the few voices in parliament speaking up for fishers’ rights.
Duncan Gay has stated that, within a week of being elected, he will reverse the regulations banning bait fishing at Fish Rock and Green Island for a very good reason.
During a recent campaign, the Community Action for Fish Rock group proved that the science supporting these closures was flawed and in at least one instance was fabricated! In spite of this, minister Steve Whan arrogantly enacted these regulations anyway. It would seem likely that we will have two ministers on the same side but cancelling each other out on votes regarding fishing.
So what is a fisho to do..?
In order to offset the Green imbalance of power in the upper house, we need to vote 1 ABOVE the line for the Shooters and Fishers Party. This way we will have a true house of review that does not interfere with the everyday running of parliament.
Chris Wallis