Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

The best form of cost-of-living relief is a secure job—would you believe? It's amazing to hear today, and have it revealed in this place, that jobs in the salmon industry in Tasmania are not secure—not under this government, not in their dodgy relationship with the Australian Greens, that they try and deflect from and pretend doesn't occur and exist. It does. It was on display again today.

The Australian Labor government, the Albanese government, the once-upon-a-time friend of the worker, funded the Environmental Defenders Office to the tune of nearly $10 million. The EDO take legal action against businesses that are proposing projects that will create jobs across our country. They also engage in green lawfare against sustainable industries like the aquaculture industry. The Labor government gave $10 million to take the salmon industry down. It was astounding to have that revelation. Three complainants—the Australia Institute, closely linked to the Australian Labor Party; the Bob Brown Foundation, closely linked to the Greens; and the EDO, funded by the Labor government—are all saying that the salmon industry is not sustainable and, therefore, we are finding that Minister Plibersek is going through a process to shut this industry down.

Those opposite call this a scare campaign. Well, let's go. Let's take Senator Watt's invitation. We should all go to Strahan, maybe the week after we rise from this place, and we can talk to the salmon workers about exactly the position they've been put in by the Tasmanian Labor senate team, who talk about the cost of living but do nothing at all to secure jobs. Let me tell you about a bit of proof that points to this: the letter from the Prime Minister to the Premier, dated yesterday, 29 November, relating to this exact process that the government is going through to review the salmon industry and whether it should continue to operate on Macquarie Harbour. I'll be interested to know whether Senator Polley has seen this letter, dated yesterday. It talks about this process, and refers to the review, under the EPBC Act, of the salmon industry in Macquarie Harbour, and then it starts talking about compensation packages. Why would we be talking about compensation packages for workers in a community in the west coast of Tasmania if there are no job losses at stake here.

To answer to my question, not one guarantee was given about the 400 jobs in that regional community—not one guarantee. We were just told we were scaremongering. Well, I put it to you, Deputy President, that this is exactly what's going to happen. The EDO will win their day. They'll succeed in shutting down this industry. And those opposite—particularly Tasmanian Labor senators—will deflect and say it was all the fault of the last government or someone else or somewhere else. In fact, in the copies of the letters I've got here from Minister Plibersek, they even blame John Howard for all of this, unbelievably. They refer to these laws having been put in place in the year 2000. Between then and now, of course, they have been in government and they have been custodians of what the laws look like in this land. It's a ridiculous argument, a silly claim and one that people in the west coast of Tasmania will not accept. They want a guarantee this Christmas that their jobs will be secure, and I don't think we should be in any way resiling from that.

The salmon industry in Tasmania is a proud and sustainable industry. Of course we should make sure that the environment is well-protected. The industry has invested heavily in measures to mitigate against oxygen levels being diminished in Macquarie Harbour, and that is a good thing. As I said at the time when this funding was announced, the government should back industry in to make sure that science comes to the fore here, not politics—not green lawfare. But instead of actually dealing with the issues here that relate to the problems and the plight that the workers in this industry face as a result of the Albanese Labor government bowing to the pressure of the Greens, which have not been addressed, the minister refused to go anywhere near a guarantee. They made quips about how many salmon workers they've met, and that sort of thing, flippantly refusing to answer questions around the future of this industry and doing what's right for the people that work in this industry.

I'll tell you what: with this letter here from the Prime Minister—and I'll be interested to know whether Senator Polley or any of the Tasmanian Labor senators are aware of it—I want to know how they refuse to say that there will be jobs lost. If they are going to do that, they must guarantee not a single job will be lost in western Tasmania in the salmon industry—this sustainable, science-based industry. And if they can't do that today, it is going to be a very gloomy Christmas for the 400 families on the west coast that depend on this, much in the same way it will be for the workers at Rosebery's MMG mine that Labor senators aren't standing up for. These are the problems they're doing nothing about. They're playing politics. It's a very sad day.