Staughton Vale, 24 March 2025.
Update: 25 March. The pressure is working. This story #alboWeakensEPBC is eclipsing the budget, which will be introduced to parliament today. Let’s make Tasmania the battleground for the federal election, and remind the government that environmental issues are very, very important to us.
Urgent Action Needed.
Rarely do we face an emergency where I’d ask you to drop everything to make a call. But this is such a day.
Today, Tuesday 25 March, our Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is planning to pass a law that exempts the Tasmanian Salmon Farming industry from EPBC assessment.
That’s pretty bad, but it gets worse.
The new law is expected to be more wide-reaching than just salmon fishing. It appears that it will give commercial industries a thumbs up to expand, develop and destroy without having to face environmental assessment.
Our EPBC is already weak, and is already failing to protect koalas. This new law will make it worse. It will make it harder for us to fight development decisions, or get any environmental conditions in place.
This can’t happen. This is one giant step onto a slippery slope that we may never recover from.
Please, today, call your federal member of parliament. It doesn’t matter if they’re Labor or Liberal/National – both major parties support this. You can also call the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek. You don’t need to say much, just let them know that you know about this and you’re upset about it. They’ll tell you to email. Do that if you feel like it, but there’s not much time and they are really just saying that to stall action.
Get your friends and family to call as well.
This is so big that our largest environment groups held an emergency meeting on Saturday to focus on this. They are going all-out on this, but they need our help.
ACF says this
“The Albanese Government is pushing to weaken Australia’s already broken nature laws, just to protect the salmon industry from a legal challenge over its impact on the endangered Maugean skate, a Ray-like species found only in Macquarie Harbour.
This rushed legislation goes beyond salmon farming. It’s designed to strip conservation groups of their ability to challenge destructive developments across the country.” https://www.acf.org.au/maugean-skate-albanese
WWF says:
“Critical Nature Laws at risk this week! This week, the Government is rushing through legislation that would further weaken nature laws – prioritising industry over scientific concerns and setting a dangerous precedent. We are urging the government to reconsider these proposed amendments and protect nature.” https://wwf.org.au/get-involved/choose-nature/
Greenpeace says
“The proposed legislation aims to cut the ability of third parties to request lawful reconsideration of the scope of environmental impacts of major projects. What does this mean? Less scrutiny for big developments with disastrous impacts and a clear step away from a promise to end extinction in Australia.” https://www.greenpeace.org.au/news/dump-the-bill-not-the-skate-albanese-goes-all-out-for-wildlife-extinction/
Australian Marine Conservation Society say
““Polluting and damaging industries must be properly regulated, not given free rein to continue harming Australia’s unique wildlife. Australia’s nature laws must not be weakened, or we risk entrenching extinction.” https://www.marineconservation.org.au/albanese-plans-to-weaken-nature-laws-risking-extinction-of-maugean-skate/
Please, call today. You’ll find your local federal member of parliament here:
https://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Members
PM Anthony Albanese can be contacted here: https://www.pm.gov.au/form/contact-us
Thankyou.
Petition here: https://nb.australiainstitute.org.au/end_salmon_farming_save_the_skate? and here: https://www.greenpeace.org.au/act/forests-petition
More information here: https://www.greenpeace.org.au/article/albo-turning-back-on-extinction-crisis/
