Too Far to Care

Somewhere in an office, someone who’s never pulled a net is deciding how we fish.

They’ve got models. Frameworks. Dashboards. KPIs.What they don’t have is proximity — to the water, to the fish, or to the consequences.

Australia’s commercial fishers operate under some of the strictest rules in the world. But the people designing those rules are getting further and further removed. Decisions once grounded in local knowledge are now buried under layers of complexity, consultants, and policy speak.

When no one feels the impact, no one takes responsibility.

Stock declines? Blame the fishers.Estuary health collapsing? Write a new strategy.Seafood shelves full of imports? Not their department.

The system’s too big, too tangled, too slow.Every mistake is someone else’s to explain.

We’re told it’s all about sustainability — but the real metrics are missing.

Where’s the accountability for estuary health?

Where’s the responsibility for local seafood supply?

Where’s the feedback loop?

Instead, we get bureaucracy without burden. Complexity without clarity.More meetings. More reports. Less fish.

Australia doesn’t need more frameworks.We need decisions made close to the coast — by people with skin in the game.

Because if you’re too far to care, you’re too far to govern.