North Australian FISH FINDER forums

I've always been against fishing licences, or any new government fee for that matter, because the money is already there.

If you have any doubts about that, read this ... https://www.mdavis.xyz/govlist/

Why give them more to squander?

I agree, we have approximately over the past decade been introduced to fishing permits on our dams and weirs in QLD.
Approx 60 bucks per year, "they" say 75% goes back into restocking programs but who knows.
We do have some great volunteer groups who re stock our dams on a semi regular basis and i would rather pay them or sponsor some Barra fingerlings directly than give the bl..dy government anymore of my money.
Edo

Want to come over to wa where we have to have a licence for everything...cast net licence, fishing from a boat licence, etc...when added up with a 3 day trip off wyndham where fuel can cost you up to $1000 it makes for a very expensive fillet of fingermark and can only keep 4....

Aye, expensive!

I reckon Ozfish is a cause worth funding. Doing some great work with oyster reefs etc.

A single alleged NSW govt fraud case worth more than the revenue from the state's fishing licences.

First, from chatGPT ...

"In the 2022–23 financial year, the New South Wales (NSW) government generated approximately $14.7 million from recreational fishing licence fees. This marks a decrease from the $15.7 million collected in 2021–22 and $17.7 million in 2020–21."

The alleged fraud case ... https://youtu.be/KcJ11VL3RUM

Suggests once again that licences aren't needed as the money is there, they need to sort out waste and corruption instead of charging us more fees.

Interesting that NSW licence revenue is declining, are kids moving from fishing to TikTok?

Tassie is also selling fewer trout licences each year, but probably because of declining fishing quality, with an ongoing cormorant plague and lack of rain and insects to blame. And in Tassie, inept management has cost the state millions, they bought a new ferry but failed to upgrade the terminal, so the new ferry can't be used, a huge ballsup. Why should people be buying licences to help pay for govt incompetence?

Another related FFF thread ... topic43283.html

Here is the most costly government bungling I've seen, a $2b project now costed at $25b, almost beyond belief ... https://michaelwest.com.au/snowy-2-0-le ... avalanche/

And they spent $600k trying to keep the bungling secret.

Like I said, the money is already there.

Or it was ...

Further to this, it has been since announced that the new Tassie ferries require hull upgrades, and that another berth used is unsuitable.

They also want to build a giant stadium in Hobart, a controversial topic in Tasmania, as people are often ramped up at the hospital waiting for help and feel the money would be better spent on improved services.

Yet more evidence of the squandering of our taxes, the BOM site upgrade cost $86m ... https://www.theguardian.com/australia-n ... -criticism

Yet another tax hole, the Darwin ship lift project ... https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-07/ ... /105856034

Perhaps this is the best attitude: 'If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.'

Another story of wasted millions ... https://www.theguardian.com/australia-n ... an-funding

Also, someone said on here years ago, a licence is when the govt takes your rights/freedoms and sells them back to you. Very true