West coast locals have provided enthusiastic support for the prime minister's promise to allow salmon farming to continue in Macquarie Harbour, regardless of whether the federal environment department decides to review operations. Anthony Albanese has promised new legislation to avoid job losses but has so far provided no details about how it will work, or when it will be introduced.
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00:00For more than a year, Macquarie Harbour's uncertain future has caused plenty of concern
00:07on the west coast.
00:08The school has gone down in size because people are worried about their jobs, people are worried
00:15in town.
00:17Even without detail about what the Prime Minister's new legislation will look like, his promise
00:22to keep the harbour full of salmon pens has lifted spirits.
00:25The family were quite happy, the kids were jumping over the moon, so it was really good.
00:29It's huge, because them workers down there at Strawn now, they know where their future,
00:34they can build on their future, so it's great news.
00:37I'm very pleased for the sake of the west coast, there's a lot of people employed there,
00:42so that's good.
00:43Environmentalists say the continuation of salmon farming is disastrous for the endangered
00:48Morgian skate, despite a new study providing a more optimistic outlook about its future.
00:54Let's fix our national environmental laws.
00:57Let's not introduce special legislation to protect the profits of foreign owned corporations
01:03at the expense of our native species and our world heritage.
01:07Both major parties have now guaranteed salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour will continue,
01:12hoping the stance will help to win over voters in Braddon, where Liberal MP Gavin Pearce
01:17is retiring.
01:18I think it's political playground and either party are just playing off the people, which
01:22is unfortunate.
01:24West Coast locals will now wait to see when the promised laws will come into effect.
01:28Parliament may not return before the election is called, meaning salmon could still feature
01:33during the election campaign.