Tammy Tyrrell (Tasmania, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Losing the salmon industry from Macquarie Harbour will devastate the West Coast. Strahan and its surrounding towns will never be the same. If you think I'm being dramatic, don't take it from me. Anyone who's spoken to people on the West Coast knows how important the salmon industry is to their survival. The industry has revitalised the West Coast. It's brought back that sense of pride for the community, and our communities need jobs to thrive. If the salmon industry jobs go, with nothing else to replace them, the community will implode. Families will have to move away to find new work, and the West Coast of Tassie will lose its next generation. It will die another death. The West Coast has taken hit after hit, and it won't survive another.

The Prime Minister has made a few visits to the West Coast recently. He said he's open to passing legislation so reviews can't be made against past decisions—the same kind of bill we're voting on this morning from the coalition. I asked in question time last week if that was the Prime Minister's personal opinion or the official Labor Party policy. The Minister representing the Minister for the Environment and Water wasn't aware of the Prime Minister's comments, and I think that says everything.

With an election looming and Braddon a key seat, Labor and the Liberals are doing everything they can to win over voters on the north-west coast. Comments like this from the Prime Minister give the community hope. They give them a light at the end of the tunnel, a resolution finally in sight. But, if he doesn't have any intention of following through, it's misleading and cruel to a community on the brink.

Macquarie Harbour has been under review almost the entire time Labor has been in government—three years. Imagine waking up every day for three years not knowing if that's the day your job is going to be ripped out from under you, if it's the day you're going to lose the ability to buy food for your family and pay for the roof over their head. I've visited the workers in Strahan a few times. Each time, I was met by the worried faces of workers not concerned with politics or what's going on here in Canberra but who just want to do their job, provide for their families and be part of the West Coast community. It shouldn't be a big ask.

The chaos around Macquarie Harbour has led to a wider debate about salmon farms, and we've taken an all-or-nothing approach to the salmon industry in Tasmania. Either you support salmon and support jobs or you want to save a fish and damn an industry. This is a major oversimplification of the issue. I think there's a way forward where the industry can thrive and we can look after the environment at the same time.

The salmon industry is a major employer. It directly employees thousands of people in Tasmania. Many of these jobs are in regional and remote areas where other employment opportunities aren't available. But we can't ignore the very real environmental concerns either. Evidence shows salmon farms are contributing to long-term damage in sensitive aquatic habitats. It's not about compromise; it's about finding solutions and genuinely improving outcomes for both sides.

Here are some thoughts on how we could do that. The government can invest in offshore technologies. It'll help take the pressure off vulnerable ecosystems. They should also support research for sustainable food sources. It'll reduce the industry's environmental footprint and wastage. Let's also have more transparent reporting around the industry and bring the community into it. People in Hobart and Lonnie don't have direct contact with salmon farms in Macquarie Harbour or down in the Huon. Let's bring them into the conversation and acknowledge the industry has had its problems and will always be evolving to put them right. People trust that over the usual, 'Nothing to see here.' To genuinely move forward with salmon farming in Tasmania, we need to start looking at how we work together rather than fighting against each other.

The coalition bill aims to do just that. It's trying to make salmon farming no longer a political football. This bill says that reviews won't be able to be launched willy-nilly into past environmental decisions, but it's not a blanket ban on all reviews. The bill allows anyone to call for a review within three years of a decision being made. After three years, the call can be made, but it has to come from the relevant state or territory minister, by whom the review of the action will happen. It's a reasonable buffer where a decision can be examined, but the case has to be made to an elected minister, and not by someone with a beef against the original decision. Businesses investing in our regions don't do it on a whim or easily change direction when somebody thinks they should. They invest with a view to the long-term future, not a three-year election cycle. They have to be viable. They have to pay their workers. They have to make a profit and plan for the future. They take the risk and have to manage that risk. Their opponents know this, too. The bill still allows objections to be made, and, yes, hindsight can often help us look into the future. But it has to be balanced with what's fair and right. Opponents can still make their case to a state or territory minister, but it has to be fought and won on its merits, not on who can make the most noise and cause the most trouble.

Ministers are accountable and can be challenged. They know this, especially at state or territory level. This bill puts the power back in the hands of the local communities where decisions have been made—not in the hands of someone who lives in another state. Any rational person also knows that leaving thousands of workers in limbo for years is a dark place to be. It's not right and it's not fair. When it comes to Macquarie Harbour, I stand with the workers and the West Coast community. I stand for finally getting a solution for an industry that spent three years waiting for the other shoe to drop. That's why I'm supporting this bill.