Labor’s bid to protect Tasmania’s salmon industry from legal challenge over its impact on the endangered Maugean Skate is one step closer, amid unease about the government’s commitment to environmental protection.
In a sign of internal angst, sources told Guardian Australia that Labor’s environment caucus committee needed three meetings between Friday and Sunday night to finally reach agreement on the legal intervention.
Labor MPs wanted guarantees of the government’s commitment to environment protection reform in a second term before signing off on the pro-salmon farming laws.
The full caucus endorsed the legislation on Monday morning, clearing the path for it to be pushed through parliament this week.
In February, Anthony Albanese shelved Labor’s promised environment protection agency indefinitely after a backlash from WA, leaving the government’s nature agenda in tatters.
Several Labor sources confirmed Bennelong MP Jerome Laxale – one of the party’s strongest pro-environment advocates – used Monday morning’s caucus meeting to stress the need for the government to honour its environmental commitments.
The government plans to amend the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act to end a formal reconsideration by the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, into whether an expansion of fish farming in Macquarie Harbour in 2012 was properly approved.
The industry, Tasmanian Labor MPs and state Liberal government have lobbied for the change.
The reconsideration was triggered by a legal request in 2023 from three environmentally focused organisations. An environment department opinion released under freedom of information laws suggested that it could lead to salmon farming having to stop in the harbour while an environmental impact statement was prepared.
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Albanese has assumed control of the legislation, effectively sidelining Plibersek in a rerun of his interventions to push the federal EPA off the agenda.
Speaking ahead of the caucus meeting, Albanese said Labor “makes no apology for supporting jobs”.
“What we know is that the environmental science tells us that the skate is at the same levels that it was back a decade ago. We responded to the science to provide certainty,” he said.
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has confirmed the Coalition will support the legislation after months demanding Labor protect the salmon industry.
Guardian Australia revealed Australia’s leading environment organisations – including Australian Conservation Foundation, Greenpeace and WWF Australia – have suspended advertising campaigns attacking the Coalition’s plan to introduce nuclear power and are instead funding ads accusing Albanese of signing “the death warrant” of an endangered species.
