The Independent Federal Member for Clark, Andrew Wilkie, was joined by The Australia Institute, Environment Tasmania, Neighbours of Fish Farms, Bob Brown Foundation, Australian Marine Conservation Society and crossbench colleagues to discuss the Federal Government’s attempt to ram through special laws to exempt the salmon industry in Macquarie Harbour from environment law. It is a blatant attempt to win votes in Braddon while the rest of the country is distracted by the Federal Budget.
We’ve seen the Government and Opposition tripping over themselves to offer the salmon industry a tailor-made exemption from their environmental responsibilities, while at the same time Tasmania has witnessed the worst ever mass salmon death event. The public has been kept in the dark about the environmental and health consequences while beaches on Tasmania’s east coast have been blanketed in decomposing, diseased salmon carcasses and rancid fish oil. And all the while the endangered Maugean Skate is being driven to extinction by unsustainable salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour.
It’s not good enough, and I think voters can see through the shameless attempts to buy the votes of communities in Braddon. West Coast communities deserve representatives that look out for their long-term interests, not the short-term bottom lines of multinational companies. And they deserve sustainable industries set up for the long term, not ones that trash pristine Tasmanian waterways for cash and inevitably leave the community holding the bag on the environmental disaster once they’ve moved on.
This government promised no new extinctions and a rewrite of our environmental laws to protect nature. They’ve reneged on that promise and instead we’re getting a rushed and secretive re-write, with the Coalition’s support, to prioritise the profits of big business interests and hasten the extinction of the Maugean Skate and countless other threatened species.