• Liberals’ poor leadership dividing salmon industry and regional communities
• Labor will continue to consult to sustainably grow industry and create jobs
• Rockliff only creating more and more uncertainty after three years of dithering
The Liberals have had three years to develop a plan for the salmon industry but they have failed to show any leadership, Shadow Primary Industries Minister Rebecca White said.
“The Government’s hands off approach has led to a situation where communities and the industry are becoming divided about the future of salmon farming,” Ms White said.
“Today’s announcement of a plan to develop a plan sometime in the future will only cause more confusion and uncertainty.
“It begs the question: what has Jeremy Rockliff been doing for three years?
“There are no details about what the process is for the development of the plan or who will head it up.
“There are no details about how it will be resourced or over what timeframe it will have to do its work.
“There are no details about how stakeholders will be engaged or who will be consulted.
“At a time when the industry and community is in desperate need of leadership, the Government has yet again gone to water.
“In contrast, Labor has been consulting with the community and the industry about ways to sustainably grow the salmon industry and create jobs.
“Labor supports the aquaculture industry and the full time jobs it supports, particularly in regional Tasmania.
“It is clear that moving forward there needs to be improvement to make the approval of new leases more transparent, more consultative and adaptable to future advances in science and marine farming technology.
“We need to make sure that the community can continue to have confidence in the regulatory regime and approval processes.
“I will have more to say about Labor’s policy for the future expansion of the aquaculture industry in the near future.”
Rebecca White MP Shadow Minister for Primary Industries and Water
