Fishing tackle levy

[deepfried]

hi all
I have just read the editorial in Fishing World. I was wondering what others thought about the Australian Fishing Tackle Association knocking back a levy on all fishing tackle sold in Aus. To me this sounds like an excellent idea for raising the $$ needed to take on the greenies and anti fishing extremists and also to lobby gov. I own a wholesale nursery and we have a similar levy applied to all pots we buy. The money raised goes into research and developement, industry advertising, employment of staff with experience in gov lobbying, research etc etc for the benefit of the nursery industry as a whole. So every time you or more likely your missus buys a potted plant you are funding our industries developement and our future existance. The nursery industry through this has a strong voice that gets heard at all levels of gov so couldnt the same be assumed for the tackle levy. A levy of 2% or so ( i dont know the suggested levy ) on all tackle isnt that hard to swallow if it gives us some fire power to fight the current changes. What are others thoughts on this. To me it may be an opportunity lost purely for the fear of lost sales and profits for the wholesalers / retailers. Would it really result in lost sales or not
End of my rant.

Cheers
Scott

[disorderly]

I only have a small nursery and have no fulltime staff so what does the extra 5% levy I pay on my pots,trays, tags etc do for me....oh thats right ..it takes money out of my pocket on top of GST...

The way I see it,whether it is in the fishing or horticulture industries levies only help the bigger,mainstream guys.... those that operate smaller niche businesses miss out...

It happens across the board...up here all the Horticultural DPI R&D funding goes into Banana's and cane and some tropical fruit(ie papaya...though not much)...anyone in more obscure industries pays for their own R and D ...

I certainly dont want to pay extra on my tackle to employ a few egotistical @ssholes who spend most of there time fighting amongst one another to create their own personal feifdoms and do nothing to realistically further the causes of the average rec fisho....

Scott

[TimiBoy]

I certainly dont want to pay extra on my tackle to employ a few egotistical @ssholes who spend most of there time fighting amongst one another to create their own personal feifdoms and do nothing to realistically further the causes of the average rec fisho....

Scott

My first thought was that this was a good idea, but I think Scott's right - this would generate an excellent funding stream, but the money brings the ar$eholes. I'm sure there are better ways...

Cheers,

Tim

[deepfried]

Fair enough. I dont think the tackle levy could help the bigger mainstream guys as who would they be. It was a levy proposed to benifit fishos as a whole in fighting back not businesses or individuals. A levy by name but they have different intents. I do hear what you are saying about egotistical @ssholes who spend their time fighting amongst one another though, thats part of our industry in some areas but not all. DPI R&D is a seperate kettle of fish to our pot levy, down hear DPI spend their time on macadamias and stone fruit ( Until the NSW Gov sells the site for housing to pay for the black hole down here ) but its not pot levy money.

Scott

[deepfried]

My first thought was that this was a good idea, but I think Scott's right - this would generate an excellent funding stream, but the money brings the ar$eholes. I'm sure there are better ways...

I'm not trying to push a cause here and am interested in all replies but maybe we need @ssholes on our side. They would at least speak the same language as the anti fishing brigade.
Tim do you know if there have been any alternatives suggested.

Scott

[deepfried]

Sorry double post

Scott

[BaitThrower]

Money doesn't win wars, determination does.

[Jeremy]

overall I think it would be a good idea, but I agree the politics and administration of it would need some work.

Jeremy

[Mike Delisser]

They already have an association, the Australian Fishing Tackle Association (AFTA) and I would of thought it would be in the best interests of it, and it's members should be doing this already.

Disorderly (Scott)
I don't know a thing about nurseries but I can guarantee you that your association was the main force behind the SEQ councils relaxing some our water restrictions just enough to keep a lot of the smaller nurseries alive.

[deepfried]

I also wonder what the big boys like Daiwa, Shimano, Penn etc etc are doing about all this. They really have as much as we do to lose. If you could combine the distributors / wholesalers and the big boys that should add some balls to our cause.

Scott

[TimiBoy]

Tim do you know if there have been any alternatives suggested.

Scott

A fair question! (bastard!!!) But yes, I believe an alternative of sorts exists.

Recreational Anglers must organise themselves. Difficult at first without an advertising budget, but as they increase in membership, funds will begin to flow, both as a result of membership, but also as donations from tackle/boat companies, chandleries and so on begin to flow.

Guess what? Already happening. SOBA is on the move, we have the rally in 10 days, and are doing a lot behind the scenes.

Chris Ryan (SOBA's President) has a few bits up his sleeve which I'm sure will land on this site and elsewhere when the time is right, and I don't think that's far away!

www.saveourbay.org.au

Cheers,

Tim

[deepfried]

Congats to those concerned with SOBA and good luck with the fight. Will SOBA focus on the bay area or will it take on other proposed closures in parts such as my local area where the NPA are looking for no take zones from sth wall Ballina to nth wall Iluka. If SOBA can be organised to eventually loby on a national level it would be great. If you include the green zones around Byron Bay with the NPA proposal this makes up a HUGE chunk of water.
If SOBA was a national or at least East coast org it would be an ideal beneficiary of levy money that is run by fishos.

Scott

[disorderly]

Disorderly (Scott)
I don't know a thing about nurseries but I can guarantee you that your association was the main force behind the SEQ councils relaxing some our water restrictions just enough to keep a lot of the smaller nurseries alive.

I wasnt aware of that M62....can you point me to a link??

Perhaps its just my cynicism but all I see when there is talk of Levy's, is the creation of a raft of new bureaucratic positions in order to implement,administer and allocate funds from essentially what is just a new tax...

Of course the new positions would be funded by the new taxes...

Scott

[TimiBoy]

Congats to those concerned with SOBA and good luck with the fight. Will SOBA focus on the bay area or will it take on other proposed closures in parts such as my local area where the NPA are looking for no take zones from sth wall Ballina to nth wall Iluka. If SOBA can be organised to eventually loby on a national level it would be great. If you include the green zones around Byron Bay with the NPA proposal this makes up a HUGE chunk of water.
If SOBA was a national or at least East coast org it would be an ideal beneficiary of levy money that is run by fishos.

Scott

Thanks Scott. Have a look at the website. SOBA started as a Moreton Bay focussed entity, but is now eyeing the need you describe. We are growing with the aim of representation at a whole State level (as a lobby group) and will look at links to other organisations in other states when the capacity arises.

We are in this for our species (anglers) people!

Cheers,

Tim

[Chris Ryan]

Administratively it would be very very difficult to mange a levy based system and rely on payments (similar to GST/BAS) to be made and sent off. I daresay it would cost as much as it raised to run it. I would think that if added to a GST payment for example, it would disappear into a Government trusts of which they manage and they approve what to spend on.

I prefer a self regulated model where fisho's and government are both stakeholders. I do have a model I am working on and when ready I will publish. the first draft of which was run past a political rep recently and given agreement in principle. So once details are done, I am sure it will be a winner for all.

Cheers,
Chris