Allan Suter
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2016}}
{{Use Australian English|date=November 2016}}
Allan Suter was the mayor of the District Council of Ceduna in South Australia from 2006 to 2018,{{Cite web|title = District Council of Ceduna -|url = http://www.ceduna.sa.gov.au/page.aspx?c=682|website = www.ceduna.sa.gov.au|access-date = 2015-12-08}} a commercial shark fisherman and former spokesperson for the West Coast Professional Fishermen's Association.{{Cite web|title = AM Archive - Shark dispute|url = http://www.abc.net.au/am/stories/s65418.htm|website = www.abc.net.au|access-date = 2015-12-08}}{{Cite web|title = Anti-shark attack device failed to save diver - theage.com.au|url = http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/05/01/1019441391707.html|website = www.theage.com.au| date=2 May 2002 |access-date = 2015-12-08}} 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.{{Cite web|title = Allan Suter elected as mayor unopposed|url = http://www.westcoastsentinel.com.au/story/2645689/allan-suter-elected-as-mayor-unopposed/|website = West Coast Sentinel|access-date = 2015-12-08}} 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{{Cite web|title = Plenty of interest in debit card trial meeting|url = http://www.westcoastsentinel.com.au/story/3481942/plenty-of-interest-in-debit-card-trial-meeting/|website = West Coast Sentinel|access-date = 2015-12-08}}{{Cite web|title = Mayor's comments cause debate|url = http://www.westcoastsentinel.com.au/story/2113950/mayors-comments-cause-debate/|website = West Coast Sentinel|access-date = 2015-12-08}}{{Cite news|url = http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/indigenous/people-are-just-drinking-themselves-to-death-warns-ceduna-mayor-allan-suter/story-fn9hm1pm-1226626663130|title = 'People are just drinking themselves to death', warns Ceduna mayor Allan Suter|last = Edwards|first = Verity|date = 2013-04-13|access-date = 2015-12-16|newspaper = The Australian}}{{Cite web|title = Ceduna income management scheme aims to stop cycle of alcohol, violence| website=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |url = http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2014/s4036746.htm|date = 2014-07-01|access-date = 2015-12-08}} and the dispersing of "loitering" groups of aboriginal people from Ceduna's main street.{{Cite web|title = Mayor's comments were okay|url = http://www.westcoastsentinel.com.au/story/2192652/mayors-comments-were-okay/|website = West Coast Sentinel|access-date = 2015-12-08}} 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.{{Cite web|title = Uninformed comment|url = http://www.westcoastsentinel.com.au/story/3227942/uninformed-comment/|website = West Coast Sentinel|access-date = 2015-12-08}} He claims that progress has been made following media reports on the subject in previous years.{{Cite web|title = ABC OPEN: Hard drinking, hard times {{!}}{{!}} From Project: 110%|url = https://open.abc.net.au/explore/16796|website = open.abc.net.au|access-date = 2015-12-08}}
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,{{Cite web|title = A funny way of showing support Geoff|url = http://www.westcoastsentinel.com.au/story/2581533/a-funny-way-of-showing-support-geoff/|website = West Coast Sentinel|access-date = 2015-12-08}} 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.{{Cite news|title = Ceduna Mayor says marine park ecotourism claims unrealistic|url = http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-09/ceduna-mayor-says-marine-park-ecotourism-claims/5730038|website = ABC News| date=9 September 2014 |access-date = 2015-12-08|language = en-AU}} 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.{{Cite web|title = Mayor hits back at marine park claims|url = http://www.westcoastsentinel.com.au/story/2549606/mayor-hits-back-at-marine-park-claims/|website = West Coast Sentinel|access-date = 2015-12-08}}{{Cite web|title = Impact assessments a 'farce'|url = http://www.portlincolntimes.com.au/story/3402120/impact-assessments-a-farce/|website = Port Lincoln Times|access-date = 2015-12-08}} 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.{{Cite web|title = Whales 'chased to exhaustion'|url = http://www.westcoastsentinel.com.au/story/2596408/whales-chased-to-exhaustion/|website = West Coast Sentinel|access-date = 2015-12-08}}
Suter has filled the role of Chair of the Kimba Consultative Committee for the National Radioactive Waste Management Facility process. Cite web|https://www.directory.gov.au/people/alan-suter|website = Australian Government Directory
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.{{Cite web|title = Allan Suter {{!}} My Fishing Place|url = http://www.myfishingplace.com.au/allan-suter-4|website = www.myfishingplace.com.au|access-date = 2015-12-08}} 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.{{Cite web|title = ANSA State records|url = http://ansa-sa.org/State-Records.php|website = ansa-sa.org|access-date = 2015-12-08}}