Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Let's be clear: this matter of urgency is a stunt in the lead-up to the Tasmanian election this weekend. It's an attempt by the Liberal Party to scare workers and their communities in regional Tasmania. Labor will always back workers, and a sustainable salmon industry in Tassie—our salmon industry—is renowned across the globe as first class. That's the thing that we're backing. I'd like to take this opportunity to clear up disinformation from those opposite. Consultation about salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour on Tasmania's West Coast has recently ended. This process was not initiated by the federal government and those opposite know this very well. Let me repeat that: the consultation process was not initiated by the federal government. It is required as a result of applications made by three groups under Australia's national environment laws. These groups argued that salmon farming is having an unacceptable impact on the Maugean skate—an endangered fish.

The national environment laws which require these applications to be considered—remember, these are laws that are required—were passed in 2000 by those opposite, the Liberal government at the time. They were implemented by the Liberal government in the year 2000. The consultation was very broad. It meant that workers and their union, the salmon industry, communities, environmental groups and scientists, as well as state and local government had an opportunity to have their say. On numerous occasions I have personally met with residents of the Strahan community and in fact the broader West Coast community. I've met with the West Coast Council. I've met with workers from the industry and the unions that represent them, and with the companies who operate farms in Macquarie Harbour. I've worked actively with the Strahan community to ensure they had opportunities to have their voices heard via their submissions.

During the consultation period, the department received over 2,500 submissions. The department will of course now take time to carefully consider the information that was received from those submissions. When the submissions opened, I worked hard with the minister's office to ensure that salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour would not have to pause while that occurs. That was very important to me, but it was also very, very important to that industry.

Everyone, including the salmon industry and the Tasmanian government, agree that more needs to be done to restore the health of Macquarie Harbour. Ultimately the Tasmanian government have responsibility for salmon farming regulations, and they recently extended the licences in Macquarie Harbour. However, our government is working with the Tasmanian government as part of the National Recovery Team for the Maugean Skate, alongside the salmon farming industry, Hydro Tasmania, scientists and members of the local community. As part of this work, we've committed over $2 million to establish a captive-breeding program, and that amount is being matched by the Tasmanian government. This is in addition to the work being done by industry to reoxygenate the harbour. To date, I understand this has had really good results.

The government, over on this side of the chamber, will keep working with the Tasmanian government on restoring the health of the harbour and ensuring the future of the Maugean skate. I will keep working personally with people of Strahan, the workers in the industry and the industries which support the salmon industry. Quite frankly, Senator Duniam should stop these silly stunts which only lead to heightening concerns within the community, the industry and those who work within the industry and further—the flow-on industry. Those stunts are raising huge concerns while this required legal process takes place. They should stop it because it only leads to heightening the concerns within the community whilst the required legal process is occurring.

Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank my fellow Tasmanian senators from the Liberal Party for bringing this forward, because there is nothing more urgent than the extinction of a species. We know that only in one place on earth, in Macquarie Harbour, a creature that's been with us since the age of the dinosaurs is one marine heatwave away from extinction. That's according to the scientists that have studied it for decades. We know the conservation advice from the best scientists studying the skate. They've told us that, this summer, salmon farming, which is the primary cause of the skate's demise, clear as daylight, needed to be removed from the harbour, but that hasn't happened. It hasn't happened under the Tasmanian Liberals; it hasn't happened under the federal Labor party.

I say to everyone who will listen that every environmental problem you can think of is first and foremost a political problem, because only politics can solve it, and there is no bigger environmental problem than the potential extinction of a species. So how are we going to solve this problem? We could follow the advice of the scientists. We could actually show that we care about the extinction of a species. I agree with Senator Urquhart—we should stop politicising this issue and get on with the job of protecting the maugean skate. We could also provide a guarantee to the workers on the West Coast that they won't be out of a job if salmon farming comes to an end, which is what the science tells us. I want to give a shout-out to the Greens candidates in Tasmania during the state election, who've released a very sensible policy to make sure that the 60 workers that are employed in Macquarie Harbour have a jobs guarantee. They released that; it's gone down very well.

We know that we could also pay for that by taxing the salmon industry. In 2022, over $1 billion of gross state value was contributed from the salmon industry, and they don't pay a cent of tax. Big multinationals—why don't they pay tax? The Liberal government has finally got the industry to cost recovery, and they did have a policy to actually get a return for the Tasmanian people, but they walked that back on the weekend. There will be no new levies and no new taxes on the salmon industry. The Greens would introduce a 10 per cent royalty on the salmon industry, pay to relocate these workers and find them jobs, and pay for— (Time expired)

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

It is with great pleasure that I rise to support the motion from Senator Duniam and to place on the record some genuine facts in relation to not only the situation that exists in Macquarie Harbour but also some of the things that have been said in this chamber today. The fact that the Labor Party stands up and tries to dismiss this important motion is a dismissal of the industry and the workers, quite frankly. It's disgraceful that the Labor Party stand here and try and portray this as something less than important. We expect the Greens to get up and do as they've just done on two occasions during this debate and just say, 'No, just close the industry down.' It's what they do. They do that for other primary industries and resource based industries as well—just say no. That's the mantra. It's simple, but it doesn't provide solutions.

Let's be realistic about why we are here. We are here in this situation because Minister Plibersek made a decision based on some representations that were made to her under the act. She was required to make a decision; she wasn't required to undertake a review, as has been put to the chamber. She was required to make a decision, and she made the wrong one. The first thing that Minister Plibersek should have done in this process was to reject out of hand any evidence that came from the Environmental Defenders Office. We've seen in the Magistrates Court the description of the operations of the Environmental Defenders Office, which Labor fund, as lacking integrity. So the first thing that could have been done was to dismiss out of hand anything that comes from an organisation that submits information to a court case that lacks integrity, as found by the court. That's what should have happened. The minister could have decided to uphold the decision that former minister Tony Burke made in 2012 in relation to salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour. That's what Minister Plibersek could have done and should have done—she should have made that decision.

Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That was 12 years ago! What's happened in the meantime?

David Fawcett (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Senator Colbeck, resume your seat.

Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You're driving a species to extinction, and you don't care!

David Fawcett (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Whish-Wilson, standing order 197 applies to you as it does to every senator in this place. I require you to comply with the standing orders. Senator Colbeck, you have the call.

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

Thank you, Acting Deputy President. It demonstrates that what I said about the Greens a moment ago is true. They just say no. They try and close everything down. They don't care about the people. They just want to shut it down.

Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We're trying to save a species from extinction!

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

If you can't shut it down, you try and shout the people down.

David Fawcett (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Colbeck, resume your seat. Senator Whish-Wilson, you are wilfully disobeying the standing orders and the direction of the chair. Senator Colbeck, you have the call.

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to 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)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the urgency motion as moved by Senator Duniam be agreed to.