About Salmon farming in Tasmania
After the Government fought tooth and nail to keep them secret, The Australia Institute has obtained explosive new documents via FOI about salmon farming in Tasmania.
The documents reveal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has known for almost 18 months that salmon farming should be comprehensively assessed under national environmental law for its impact on the endangered Maugean skate and Macquarie Harbour’s World Heritage value.
The Australia Institute worked with transparency campaigner and former Senator Rex Patrick, who obtained these documents only after he won an appeal which overturned a decision to keep the advice secret. The appeal found the public service acted unlawfully in refusing to make the advice public.
This is a win for transparency – but not the environment.
In a bid to pander to the powerful aquaculture lobby, the Prime Minister has pledged $37 million in public funding to support the toxic salmon industry and promised to introduce legislation that will allow them to bypass Australia’s environmental protection laws and continue destroying World Heritage – both the skate and the Harbour are recognised for their World Heritage value.
This legislation could be introduced as early as next week, which is why I will be flying to Canberra on Monday to talk about our research with key lawmakers in Parliament House — before it is too late.
The more people I have standing behind me, the better chance I have of being heard. Already, our national petition calling on the Federal Government to respect the science and end salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour has over 18,000 signatures – but we need more by the time I land in Canberra early next week.
Axel, will you add your name to our petition?
The Government has ignored the advice of experts, even in their own departments. That’s why, with the help of organisations like the Bob Brown Foundation, we’ve been working to demonstrate the broad public opposition to destructive salmon farming practices, to pressure the Government into choosing our environment over the interests of the corporate aquaculture industry.
Thanks to donations from supporters like you, we recently took out newspaper ads in key Tasmanian electorates where we know the government is listening in the lead up to the election.
| The ads responded to the shocking scenes in Tasmania that began last month where hundreds of thousands of dead, rotting salmon are washing up on beaches. This mass fish kill event is ongoing and it is truly heartbreaking.
We now know that the Government was warned more than a year ago about the damage that salmon farming is doing to the west coast ecosystem, and that they still chose to delay. Add your name to the petition. The salmon industry is truly toxic. It is harming our World Heritage listed environment, threatening a Tasmanian endangered species, and killing caged salmon by the hundreds of thousands. With just one sitting week left before the Prime Minister is expected to call the election, we have very little time to stop the Government from ramming new laws protecting the interests of the salmon farming corporations through Parliament. It is only with your support that we can hold them to account. Yours, Eloise Carr |
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