Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2026-2027
Mr MATT SMITH (Leichhardt) (19:04): On Friday I was in the Cairns Airport, which is basically the hub for all of the far north, and I ran into my friend and former teammate Deba George. I hadn't seen Deba for a very long time. He hails from Erub, which is also known as Darnley Island, in the Torres Strait.
As old friends do, and as men of a certain age do, the conversation turned to our children. His eldest child, Fabian, who has just turned 21, is down in Brisbane, and Deba said: 'Listen, it's time to go home. It's time for you to get back in touch with culture.
It's time for you to go fishing with your uncle.' So, in a couple of months time, Fabian is going to do just that. He'll work the finfish, catch the crays and provide some of the best fish in Australia. But, more than that, this is Fabian getting in touch with who he is—as well as with his family, his culture and his birthright—as a Torres Strait Islander and fishing those waters, as his forefathers have done for tens of thousands of years.
In October last year, Minister Hill and I travelled up to the Torres Strait. We knew that there was probably trouble afoot. Operation Lunar had done a really great job of pushing illegal fishermen out of the waters of the Northern Territory and the Kimberley, and they had eyes on the Torres Strait.
We met with the elders, with council and with the PBC to discuss what needed to happen. We provided an uplift almost immediately, with manpower and winged aerial vision on the waters. A few other things went wrong.
The northern summer did northern summer stuff, and the weather pushed more Indonesian fishermen into the Torres Strait. We travelled back up there to discuss with the elders what the solution could be. What were we going to do?
One week after my meeting with Minister Burke and Minister Hill, Operation Broadstaff was launched, which is an operation specifically designed to protect the traditional fishing waters of the Torres Strait—their livelihoods, their way of life—by keeping control of our biosecurity, but, most importantly, by allowing the culture to live and breathe. People of the Torres Strait were fearful.
They did not want to have people they didn't know in their waters. The response was quick, swift and effective. We told these fishermen, 'If you come here we will take your catch, we will lock you up and we will burn your boat.' We have delivered on every single one of those promises.
The fishermen are coming less and less now. But that was just a bandaid response. It was a quick response and a hard response to stem the bleeding.
The ultimate response is the cooperation between the wonderful officers in Border Force—and they are fantastic. We spent a fair bit of time with them and with the community itself. We are co-designing a response led by Torres Strait Islanders to protect Torres Strait Islander waters.
This is the demand of the community. This is the response of our government to make sure that they feel that their government, their country, is listening to them. The Torres Strait is a long, long way away from Canberra.
Parts of it are four kilometres away from Papua New Guinea. There are treaty villages where the border between our two nations is more of a philosophical impediment than anything else. Families travel across for trade, ceremonies and culture.
Getting that balance right to keep illegal fishermen, who should not be in the area, away but still allow for that tradition and culture which has been around forever is so important, and it cannot be achieved without that local knowledge, which can only be provided by sitting with the elders and by taking the time on the islands to understand. In our travels, Minister Hill has seen places of this country that no-one else gets to go to.
You need permission to land on these places. We've been to Boigu, Dauan and Saibai. He has spent time, he has listened and he has acted.
That garners respect in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Minister Hill has earned that respect through his deeds, his actions and his time on the ground. He is welcome anytime in that part of the world.
I will travel back to check on Operation Broadstaff in the next few months and hear from the locals about how it's going, but the consultation continues. The interaction between Border Force and the community has been second to none, and it is something I know this government is very, very proud of.