Angling for votes in salmon jobs

Political considerations no doubt are front of mind for Anthony Albanese in his approach to safeguarding jobs in the Tasmanian salmon industry over long-running attempts by environmentalists to shut it down. Whatever the motivation, the protracted salmon row presents a good opportunity to tackle head-on the menace of lawfare that has put a green stranglehold on project approvals across the nation.

As Tasmania correspondent Matthew Denholm writes on Thursday, the Prime Minister has confirmed he will introduce legislation next week to ensure salmon farming continues at Macquarie Harbour on the state’s West Coast. It follows a promise of a $37m lifeline for the industry announced by Mr Albanese in Devonport in February. By going further, Mr Albanese has forced the hand of Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek, who has procrastinated on making a decision on the issue. Mr Albanese says the intervention will amend the “flawed” Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act to “secure local jobs and industries”. It will likely do this by restricting third-party initiated reviews of historic environmental approvals.

This was the tactic used by green groups to persuade Ms Plibersek to review salmon operations that they claimed had a detrimental environmental impact, including on the endangered Maugean skate. Industry leaders have urged Mr Albanese to pass legislation before the federal election. It is a sensitive issue politically given the $1.4bn-a-year salmon industry is a key employer across regional Tasmania. Labor strategists believe decisions about the industry will have electoral implications including in the West Coast marginal seat of Braddon and in Franklin, south of Hobart, where independents are trying to topple Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Minister Julie Collins. The Coalition is likely to support the proposed changes, which will need to be retrospective to derail Ms Plibersek’s deliberations on more than decade-old salmon farming approvals.

The federal opposition claims to have sought protections for the industry all along but says it was ignored by the government. Rather than complain, the Coalition should focus on making sure the legislation being put by government is as strong as it can be to stamp down on lawfare as a way to stymie development across the board. Project delays because of legal interjections over the scope and thoroughness of ministerial decision-making processes have frustrated mining proposals from Queensland to Western Australia for years. Even if they are successful for technical reasons, the result most often has been a requirement that the relevant minister remake the decision to arrive back at the original result. Salmon farming presents an opportunity for meaningful reform to give certainty back to investors.