Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you for your protection, Acting Deputy President. Minister Plibersek could have made a decision to leave in place the existing approval made by her colleague the then minister for the environment Tony Burke in 2012. That's what she should have done. Had she done that, none of the genuine concerns of the Tasmanian community, particularly of the West Coast community, would have existed. It was Minister Plibersek who wrote to the Tasmanian Premier threatening to pause the industry. They are legitimately concerned when the federal minister writes to the Tasmanian Premier in those terms. Why shouldn't they be concerned?

Then, off the back of that, Minister Plibersek made a decision to review a decision made 12 years ago. That raises the significant concern of sovereign risk for any decision made under the EPBC Act. Any decision made under the EPBC Act is now under threat because of what Minister Plibersek did. Never before has a decision that was made so long ago, where the industry has got on with operating under the approval that it was given, been reconsidered. Never has that been done before. It raises significant sovereign risk not just for the salmon industry but for any industry in this country that has an approval under the EPBC Act. That's what Minister Plibersek has done. So why shouldn't the Tasmanian community be concerned? More broadly, why shouldn't anyone who was operating with an approval under the EPBC Act be concerned about what this minister might do? This is an important motion. It is relevant in the context of everything that's happening today. We should not be in this position in the first place, because Minister Plibersek should not have made the decision that she made. (Time expired)