Allan Suter (politician)

Allan Suter is the mayor of the District Council of Ceduna in South Australia,[1] a commercial shark fisherman and former spokesperson for the West Coast Professional Fishermen's Association.[2][3] He holds several national and South Australian game fishing records, which he set between 1985 and 1992.

Politics

In 2014, Suter was re-elected to his position as mayor unopposed.[4] Suter has taken strong positions on a number of sensitive political issues for the west coast of South Australia. These include his support for trials of a cashless debit card income management system for welfare recipients[5][6][7][8] and the dispersing of "loitering" groups of aboriginal people from Ceduna's main street.[9] Suter has also challenged what he considers to be misrepresentations of Ceduna's social problems, including drunken disorder, as reported by mainstream journalists and columnists for The Advertiser, including Tory Shepherd.[10] He claims that progress has been made following media reports on the subject in previous years.[11]

Suter has supported the interests of the fishing industry, challenged the merits and planning of South Australian marine parks and criticised South Australian marine scientists and fisheries management authorities. He has stated that he believed that the introduction of state-managed marine parks represented "dangerous harm" for regional South Australian communities,[12] and rejected claims about the projected economic potential for marine park eco-tourism in his region in a study commissioned by the Conservation Council of South Australia.[13] He referred to the process of developing regional impact statements related to marine parks as a "farce" and described the statements as "ludicrous rubbish". He has expressed concern about marine parks reducing areas accessible to commercial fishing, including marine scale fish and southern rock lobster fisheries.[14][15] Suter has been critical of SARDI's fisheries stock assessment processes, and in 2015 accused SARDI's whale researchers of "chasing whales to exhaustion" when tagging seven animals in the Great Australian Bight.[16]

Personal life

Suter is a boat owner and record-holding recreational fisherman. He holds a Game Fishing Association of Australia national record for a 31 kilogram mulloway caught from land on 8 kilogram line near Ceduna in 1992.[17] He also holds a South Australian record for a 31.2 kilogram mulloway caught on 6 kilogram line in 1986. He also holds further state records for catches of a 270 kilogram bronze whaler shark (15 kg line, 1987), a 26.4 kilogram western blue groper (15 kg line, 1987) and a 35 kilogram smooth stingray (6 kg line, 1985). All of Suter's records were set near Ceduna.[18]

References

  1. ↑ "District Council of Ceduna -". www.ceduna.sa.gov.au. Retrieved 2015-12-08.
  2. ↑ "AM Archive - Shark dispute". www.abc.net.au. Retrieved 2015-12-08.
  3. ↑ "Anti-shark attack device failed to save diver - theage.com.au". www.theage.com.au. Retrieved 2015-12-08.
  4. ↑ "Allan Suter elected as mayor unopposed". West Coast Sentinel. Retrieved 2015-12-08.
  5. ↑ "Plenty of interest in debit card trial meeting". West Coast Sentinel. Retrieved 2015-12-08.
  6. ↑ "Mayor's comments cause debate". West Coast Sentinel. Retrieved 2015-12-08.
  7. ↑ Edwards, Verity (2013-04-13). "'People are just drinking themselves to death', warns Ceduna mayor Allan Suter". The Australian. Retrieved 2015-12-16.
  8. ↑ "Ceduna income management scheme aims to stop cycle of alcohol, violence". 2014-07-01. Retrieved 2015-12-08.
  9. ↑ "Mayor's comments were okay". West Coast Sentinel. Retrieved 2015-12-08.
  10. ↑ "Uninformed comment". West Coast Sentinel. Retrieved 2015-12-08.
  11. ↑ "ABC OPEN: Hard drinking, hard times || From Project: 110%". open.abc.net.au. Retrieved 2015-12-08.
  12. ↑ "A funny way of showing support Geoff". West Coast Sentinel. Retrieved 2015-12-08.
  13. ↑ "Ceduna Mayor says marine park ecotourism claims unrealistic". ABC News. Retrieved 2015-12-08.
  14. ↑ "Mayor hits back at marine park claims". West Coast Sentinel. Retrieved 2015-12-08.
  15. ↑ "Impact assessments a 'farce'". Port Lincoln Times. Retrieved 2015-12-08.
  16. ↑ "Whales 'chased to exhaustion'". West Coast Sentinel. Retrieved 2015-12-08.
  17. ↑ "Allan Suter | My Fishing Place". www.myfishingplace.com.au. Retrieved 2015-12-08.
  18. ↑ "ANSA State records". ansa-sa.org. Retrieved 2015-12-08.
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