Key steps reached on Northern Australia program

LEICHHARDT MP Warren Entsch has welcomed the reaching of key milestones during this Parliamentary sitting which will enable the White Paper process for the Development of Northern Australia to launch soundly in the New Year. The membership of the Joint Select Committee on Northern Australia (JSCNA) was approved by the Senate on December 4th and…

Projects approved with safeguards to protect the reef

FEDERAL Member for Leichhardt Warren Entsch has welcomed news that the Government’s approval of dredging activities at Abbot Point will be subject to the highest environmental standards to protect the Great Barrier Reef. After rigorous assessment, the Government has completed the approvals process for four Queensland projects under National Environmental Law, approving: ·         The capital…

Environmental Legislation Amendment Bill 2013

Mr ENTSCH (Leichhardt) (11:54): I certainly welcome the opportunity to speak on this bill today. There are two key elements of this bill, and I will only briefly mention the first. I disagree with the previous speaker in that it seeks to make a technical amendment to the EPBC Act to ensure that past decisions…

Grievance Debate – Mental Health Services

Mr ENTSCH (Leichhardt) (19:13): I rise tonight to speak of an issue that has touched many people, not just in my life but in the lives of many in my electorate. Mr Deputy Speaker, I am sure you are familiar with some of the issues I have raised in the past in relation to mental…

It’s on! Parish Hall renovation underway

IT’S been an eventful week for the Parish Hall Restoration Project with the much-anticipated start of Stage 1 renovation coupled with a major donation from a local business. After a mammoth community fundraising effort over the last 16 months, works have now commenced to take out the asbestos and remove the roof of the historic…

Additional funding to manage crown-of-thorns starfish

THE Government is allocating an extra $1.1 million in funding to further protect the Great Barrier Reef from the destructive crown-of-thorns starfish.The crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) can destroy coral faster than it can regenerate and is one of the most significant threats to the reef.  In recent decades COTS were responsible for 42% of coral loss.Although…

Entsch again fights for local fishers

LEICHHARDT MP Warren Entsch has highlighted the hypocrisy surrounding fisheries management in the Coral Sea and tuna ‘overfishing’ in the Federal Parliament today. Mr Entsch said he had been following with interest the media coverage of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission meeting that is currently being held in Cairns. “For a long time…

3 Minute Constituency – Coral Sea Tuna

Mr ENTSCH (Leichhardt) (09:51):  I have been following with interest the media coverage on the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission meeting that is being held currently in Cairns. Five hundred international delegates have been debating how to manage what they perceive as overfishing of bigeye, yellowfin, and skipjack tuna in the western and central…