Labor, Coalition trade barbs over salmon industry in Tasmania on election campaign trail
The major parties have traded barbs over the future of the salmon industry in Tasmania, with the contentious topic threatening to be a dominant talking point on the federal campaign trail.
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Election candidates have traded barbs over the future of Tasmania’s salmon industry as the hot button issue threatens to dominate the federal campaign in the lead-up to polling day.
It comes after the Albanese government rushed new laws through the parliament that are designed to remove Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek’s ability to review a 2012 decision to approve the expansion of salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour.
The seat of Braddon, currently held by the Liberal Party, is seen as a crucial electoral battleground as debate around the plight of the endangered Maugean skate continues to cause consternation in the electorate, with environmentalists lamenting the salmon industry’s impact on the fish, which is only found in Macquarie Harbour on the state’s West Coast.
Tasmanian Liberal senator Jonathon Duniam, flanked by Clark Liberal candidate Marilena Di Florio, claimed on Sunday that Labor was likely to strike a deal with the Greens in order to form majority government, which he said would “spell the death of the salmon industry in Tasmania”.
“[The Coalition are] not going to be the ones doing minority government deals with green parties or green activists – we are going to be standing up for industries that create jobs, that help people pay their bills, and get the balance right with the environment,” Senator Duniam said.
His comments came as conservationists rallied at White Beach on the Tasman Peninsula on Sunday, urging Tasmanians to “vote salmon out”.
Peter George, a prominent anti-salmon campaigner who is running as an independent against Franklin Labor MP Julie Collins, spoke at the event, along with independent Clark MP Andrew Wilkie and Greens senator Nick McKim.
The independent Threatened Species Committee advised the federal environment department in 2024 that the impacts of aquaculture on dissolved oxygen concentrations in Macquarie Harbour should be “eliminated or significantly reduced” to protect the Maugean skate.
The salmon industry and members of the nearby Strahan community have warned Prime Minister Anthony Albanese that ending fish farming in Macquarie Harbour would result in unacceptable job losses.
Ms Collins, who is the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, said Labor was campaigning for majority government and was the “only party” that could achieve this, according to pollsters.
She said the new legislation guaranteeing the future of the salmon industry in Macquarie Harbour made a “very narrow change” to federal environment laws and that she shared community concerns about a lack of transparency in Tasmania when it came to the environment.
“I’ve been on the public record for more than a decade that the Tasmanian state government needs to ramp up the protections around the Environment Protection Authority,” Ms Collins said.
“They need to strengthen the EPA. We need more transparency, we need timely transparency. But we can [also] have the jobs … in regional communities around the country, and we can have a strong environment.”
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Originally published as Labor, Coalition trade barbs over salmon industry in Tasmania on election campaign trail
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