Politicians and Bureaucrats Run Scared From Public Meeting
Bill McLeod, owner of McLeod Engineering in Cairns, said government
representatives had refused to attend a public meeting in Cairns
tonight (Cairns Marine Radio Club at 7pm, Thursday, June 21) to discuss
the impact of the buy-back of fishing licences on local business.
Mr McLeod said Federal Minister for Fisheries, Senator Eric Abetz, and
his general manager, Robert Murphy, had been invited but refused to
attend.
“We want the politicians and bureaucrats to defend their decisions publicly, but they refuse to do so,” said Mr McLeod.
“When asked to justify their actions to the people they represent, they run and hide.”
Mr McLeod said the Federal Government financial package, Securing our
Fishing Future, which involved voluntary buy-back of fishing licences,
had drastically underestimated the flow-on effects to land-based
businesses.
“The cutback on fishing activity will impact on land-based businesses
which supply fuel, equipment, supplies and repairs to the fleet and
this has not been factored in,” said Mr McLeod.
He said meetings with Senator Abetz and his general manager, Robert Murphy, had produced no satisfactory outcome.
“We have called a public meeting to update industry and business people
on the government’s shortcoming and to decide on future action,” he
said.
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Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 (Archive on Wednesday, September 05, 2007)
Posted by host Contributed by host
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