Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] Huon Aquaculture, an industrial salmon farming business in Tasmania, is on the market. Its owners can no doubt see the writing on the wall and are getting out while the going is good, or rather when the going is good for businesses with extremely bad environmental impacts. Don't believe the glossy corporate spin. Big salmon is trashing the Tasmanian marine environment, it is trashing downstream industries and it is trashing the amenities of people who use or live on them. And it's also an animal welfare disaster. Who would take on a business in an industry that is so on the nose? Currently leading the charge is Brazilian corporate meat giant JBS. JBS has a disgraceful record of environmental destruction, animal cruelty, civil rights abuses and exploitation of slave labour. This is the same JBS that has purchased and run down abattoirs in Tasmania, leaving employees and communities high and dry. JBS sees an opportunity here because the Tasmanian government, disgracefully, is trying to double inshore salmon production in Tasmania's beautiful waterways and double it at any cost. Big salmon has captured its so-called regulators in Tasmania, it has captured the major political party of Tasmania and it is the Tasmanian people and the Tasmanian marine environment that are paying the price. The Greens are proud to stand with people and communities calling for Mr Josh Frydenberg to reject the proposed takeover of Huon Aquaculture by JBS.