Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

I think, to be fair to Senator Whish-Wilson, he stopped paying attention to me a few minutes ago—I think, in truth. I'm really appealing over here, because I know I've lost Senator Whish-Wilson down there, and that's okay. But you just have to look at the character of the people who are running this argument for the government. Tasmanians can count on Anne Urquhart because she has got a history of backing workers and backing industry. It's a government that, just some weeks ago—it's not a small commitment that the government, the Albanese government, has made here in Northern Tasmania—made a $28 million commitment to the future of the industry. It sits against a backdrop of the government not wandering around with banners or slogans but working carefully and consistently with the environment movement, with workers, with their unions, with the firms, foreign owned or not—it makes no difference to this government—and with the industry, to secure the right outcome.

We support a decent aquaculture industry, including the salmon industry, and we know that they are striving to do that, to operate responsibly. The fishing industry more broadly, commercial fishers, the lobster industry and the aquaculture industry are fundamental to Tasmania's economy, to good jobs and to those communities big and small across Northern Tasmania. We say 'future made in Australia'. We also say 'salmon grown in Tasmania'. We say to Australians, 'Buy Tasmanian salmon. Buy it in the supermarket in the lead-up to Christmas. Use Tasmanian smoked salmon. Back that industry, because the Albanese government will back it too.' Tasmanian smoked salmon is some of the finest smoked salmon. You can buy the offshore variety if you want, but I say to you as the Assistant Minister for a Future Made in Australia, 'Back in salmon grown in Tasmania. Buy Australian smoked salmon. Buy it from Tasmania. Make sure it's on the Christmas table. It's a high-quality product.'

All of us need to work together to deliver that outcome. The salmon industry itself recognises this, and it's been actively engaged in work to understand and minimise the environmental impacts of aquaculture, with the government. This is the way that you do things—not by demonising an industry, as the Greens political party would.

I've heard Senator Whish-Wilson. I understand his passion for this issue. But you don't achieve outcomes for the environment or for workers by pitting them against each other, and that is what Senator Whish-Wilson, as well intentioned as he is, has done. He's pitted the industry against the environment. He's pitted the interests of working-class Tasmanians—Tasmanians who want good jobs—against the environment. The truth is that Tasmanians deserve both.

The Prime Minister was in Tasmania recently, and I heard the smear about this. I say this: we are serious. There was a $28 million commitment from this government in new measures to boost water quality and to improve the marine environment in Macquarie Harbour. That's practical support for jobs—not words, not social media posts, not vitriol, not hostility—