Tensions have boiled over in Canberra as debate continues over contentious changes to Australia's environmental laws. Labor says its amendments are designed to protect the salmon industry in Tasmania. But critics say it's a political fix that could cause the extinction of an endangered species.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00On the floor of the Senate, political debate takes an unexpected turn.
00:07Have you sold out your environment credentials for a rotten, stinking, extinction salmon?
00:18The shock tactics coming after another Green Senator heckled the Prime Minister during
00:22a post-budget media call.
00:24Pushing the species to the brink of extinction underneath the cover of a budget.
00:29You're a pack of mongrels!
00:31Scientists say salmon farming in Tasmania's Macquarie Harbour is the main threat to the
00:36endangered Morgian skate.
00:38But with recent data showing an improvement in water quality and a stabilisation in skate
00:44numbers, the government is trying to amend environmental laws to prevent a potential
00:49shutdown of the industry.
00:51We're not going to stand by and see workers lose their jobs because of this broken law.
00:56The changes would limit to five years the amount of time certain projects can be legally
01:01challenged, putting an end to Tanya Plibersek's current consideration of whether salmon farming
01:07in Macquarie Harbour can continue at its present scale.
01:11The salmon industry will wear the stain of an extinction, a totally avoidable extinction.
01:16It's bad policy but it is so poorly drafted that it won't even achieve the thing that
01:22it's set out to do.
01:24Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio has weighed into the debate and while the Coalition supports
01:29the changes in principle, it says Labor should have acted much sooner.
01:34The government have been left with no choice but to legislate to work around this minister.
01:39The legislation isn't limited to Macquarie Harbour or the salmon industry, meaning it
01:44could have significant implications for other projects across the country that are accused
01:49of environmental harm.