Tassal worker worried about fate of Strahan over salmon farming uncertainty
Following the Prime Minister’s Macquarie Harbour visit, a salmon worker says he and his co-workers are anxious about an impending decision that could see their industry removed from the West Coast.
Tasmania
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Adam Saltmarsh has lived in Strahan his whole life but worries that his hometown will be “decimated” if salmon farming is removed from Macquarie Harbour.
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek is considering whether to remove salmon farming from Macquarie Harbour on Tasmania’s West Coast due to concerns about the impact the industry was having on the population numbers of the endangered Maugean skate.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited Macquarie Harbour on Saturday, vowing that his government would “do what’s necessary to support jobs” in Tasmania’s salmon industry.
Later that night, Mr Albanese attended a Christmas event at the Strahan Golf Club – where he met and spoke with West Coast locals.
Mr Saltmarsh, a maintenance manager for aquaculture company Tassal, said he and his family “don’t want to be anywhere else” apart from Strahan.
He was concerned about the impact a salmon farming shutdown in Macquarie Harbour would have on the town.
“There’s so many people employed locally through aquaculture, it’ll decimate the town,” Mr Saltmarsh said.
“You take all the aquaculture families away, take the kids away from the school, and then take the funding away from the town – and then the doctors leave the town, and the elderly people struggle.
“It’s hard to think of Strahan as not a place or community.”
Mr Saltmarsh said the morale among the workers at Tassal had been dipping.
“We try to push it to the back of our head so we can concentrate on our work. But there’s uncertainty there.
“The guys want to start a family and build a life in Queenstown or Strahan, but the uncertainty makes it hard on the guys.”
Following the Prime Minister’s visit, Tasmanian Business, Industry and Resources Minister Eric was critical of his appearance on the West Coast.
He described Mr Albanese as “the Grinch who stole Christmas from the people of Strahan.”
“The Prime Minister’s hollow visit to Strahan leaves West Coast families to face another Christmas filled with uncertainty because of the Federal Labor Government’s inability to back workers,” Mr Abetz said.
“Labor has betrayed Tasmanian workers, regional communities, families and small businesses.
“The Prime Minister arrived empty-handed in Strahan despite knowing there was only one thing on the Christmas list: Maintain salmon farming’s existing approvals in Macquarie Harbour, protecting local jobs.
“Instead, the Labor Party has again showed up empty-handed, feigning support for industry and the workers that are at risk of losing their jobs.”
Meanwhile, Liberal Senator Jonno Duniam said the Prime Minister’s visit was filled with “unacceptable platitudes.”
“Tasmania wanted and needed an immediate answer from the Prime Minister and the Labor Government, but what we got was the same old story of ‘support’ when we need concrete action.
“It is a cop-out for the Prime Minister to come to Tasmania and to serve our hardworking men and women within the salmon industry with niceties and platitudes when it is his government that caved to activists by initiating this horrible EPBC review.
“At any moment, the axe could fall on Strahan.”
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