AUKUS: Madeleine King slams Garden Island fishing ban protesters calling it a ‘stupid’ Greens scare campaign

Revelations about new regulations impacting fishing and boating around Garden Island have sharpened anti-AUKUS criticisms, with protestors planning a community flotilla next weekend. The West Australian on Friday revealed fishing and boating spots near Garden Island could be off limits after the Albanese Government introduced regulations impacting HMAS Stirling naval base. Defence Minister Richard Marles early last month signed a series of Australian Naval Nuclear Safety Regulations designed to prepare the AUKUS precinct for the deployment of US and British submarines, which are scheduled to arrive in 2027. A map included in the regulations reveals that Garden Island, the surrounding waters, and its access bridge are considered part of the “Stirling designated zone.” Currently, the Navy prohibits public access to just two sections of land on Garden Island and the surrounding waters. Stop AUKUS WA Reclaim the Sound rally organiser Leonie Lundy said the protest had been planned for weeks but was always in solidarity with users of Cockburn Sound and the fishing community. “We’ve known for some time that the whole of Garden Island could be impacted, and we’ve raised concerns regarding the impact on recreational fishers and the use of the area,” Ms Lundy told The Sunday Times. “What’s been an insult to the public has been defence’s lack of transparency. “We won’t pretend to tell the recreational fishing community how to feel, but they should be told the extent of the impact.” Ms Lundy said the group submitted questions surrounding the regulations two months ago but had yet to receive answers. Greens Senator David Shoebridge believes the regulations have created Australia’s first nuclear waste dump at a popular fishing and picnic spot. “If Labor does not intend to use this land for nuclear material, then why have they so clearly included these public access sites into the map like this?” he said. “The encroachment of AUKUS onto public land is already starting, and with it the first hard impacts of this one-sided deal with the US are being felt.” But Resources Minister Madeleine King, the local MP, accused the Greens of running a scare campaign around the new regulations. Ms King on Saturday took to social media to deride the Greens’ “stupid scare campaign” and declared Garden Island open to the public. “Everyone can continue to go for a swim, get out the flippers & mask and for a skindive, have a BBQ, play cricket on the beach, and do some fishing,” she wrote. “There is nothing quite like an eastern states-based Greens politician pushing out a stupid scare campaign. “I wonder how often the good NSW Senator Shoebridge has visited HMAS Stirling or sought to understand more about Rockingham’s role in the defence of Australia?” A spokesperson for the Australian Naval Nuclear Power Safety Regulator insisted the zone was a regulatory boundary and activities like fishing, boating and swimming, which are currently permitted, can continue. The designated zones instead represented the Australian Naval Nuclear Power Safety Regulator’s (ANNPSR) boundaries and defined its responsibilities. Radioactive waste from AUKUS submarines can now be moved within the newly created Stirling designated zone, but the naval nuclear regulator rejected suggestions it will be at the higher end of the nuclear scale. “The movement, management and storage of this low-level radioactive waste is a regulated activity licensed by ANNPSR, and those activities can only be conducted in areas in the Stirling designated zone where a licence has been issued,” the regulator said. But Ms Lundy warned that Stop AUKUS’ broader concerns included the intense increase in activity around Cockburn Sound and the risks to the environment brought by the movement of nuclear waste. “The recreational fishing community should be concerned about the direct environmental impact nuclear waste could have on the environment,” she added.