Media release – Neighbours of Fish Farming, 9 May 2024
Greens, Jaqui Lambie Network, Independents Join Forces to call for EPA inquiry
NOFF praises enlarged cross-bench for exerting its authority & collaboration
In a first for the new Tasmanian Parliament, cross-bench MPs and parties have joined forces in calling for a full, independent and transparent inquiry into the state’s EPA.
The MPs represent the majority of independents and cross-bench parties in the parliament.
Community group, NOFF, sought the MPs’ support amidst mounting concerns about the EPA’s role in monitoring and regulating the state’s natural heritage on land and in water.
NOFF president, Peter George, says the unfolding tragedy in Macquarie Harbour where salmon industry operations are damaging the waterway and threatening the Maugean skate is just one example of why the EPA is not fit for purpose.
“We thank the MPs from the bottom of our hearts for responding and taking this first opportunity to exercise their authority in the aftermath of an election in which issues of transparency and integrity played the major role.
“Independents and cross-bench parties are demonstrating that they will collaborate and to exert their authority as a genuine and effective opposition in the new Parliament,” Peter George says.
“Communities across the state now have powerful, united voices that are brave, independent and effective and that cannot be ignored by Liberal or by Labor.
“It’s immensely encouraging their first collaboration is in ensuring the state’s natural heritage is properly protected and nurtured – a turning point for Tasmania.”
Salmon Industry’s impact on Macquarie Harbour cited
“NOFF is aware of deep concerns about the EPA’s failures across the state.
“With the much-delayed State of the Environment report due soon and with salmon industry plans to expand into north west waters of the state and further north into Storm Bay, we are going to need a better, stronger, more open and more independent EPA than exists now.”
NOFF believes only an eminent out-of-state authority could effectively run an inquiry without political interference. Such a person might be found within the ranks of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists – an independent group of scientists and professionals, working to secure the long-term health of Australia’s land, water and biodiversity.
An extensive report, Labor’s First Extinction by author and journalist, Richard Flanagan, excoriates the EPA’s complicity in allowing the salmon industry to continue – and increase – production in Macquarie Harbour despite clear evidence of its destructive impact. (Mr Flanagan’s journalism is routinely published globally in the New York Times, Le Monde, La Republica & The Times).
Statement – Mike Gaffney MLC, 7 May 2024
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“I support an independent inquiry into the EPA. Tasmanians need to have confidence that the environmental authority in this state, which has a responsibility to investigate and protect our natural assets, is effective, accountable and resourced sufficiently to undertake its role professionally, independently and in a transparent manner. Tasmanians want the best environmental outcomes possible for current and future generations. The EPA is integral to this occurring and an initial inquiry would be exceptionally beneficial to the process.”
Statement – Craig Garland, 7 May 2024
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For 20 years, the salmon companies relocated seals from salmon farms onto our inshore fishery on the north-west coast. After over two decades of salmon farms on the west coast, there is a high possibility that we have a dead Macquarie Harbour. We have another species, the Maugean skate, facing extinction. The D’Entrecasteux channel is fouled and polluted. I have no confidence with the regulation and the overseeing of the salmon industry in Tasmania.
The tail is wagging the dog and there needs to be a full and independent assessment of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and how we got to be in this situation where we are today.
The communities of the north-west coast, the Aboriginal peoples, the fishermen, the surfers, and anyone that gives a damn are all against any expansion until we get a proper regulation of this out-of-control industry.
There is talk about expanding salmon farms into Storm Bay. The government has been talking about expanding salmon farms onto the north-west coast. The Government made the announcement, a political announcement that there will be no expansion on the East Coast. The government needs to step up and respect the wishes of the Aboriginal peoples, the fishermen, the surfers, and everyone on the north-west coast that do not want the salmon farms coming into our area now or ever. I have no faith and no confidence in the regulation of this industry.
Even if salmon farms were moved onto land and out of our inshore waterways, the EPA would still be too ineffective to regulate it properly. How can anyone have any faith in a regulatory body that has allowed this industry to get to where it has now?
Tasmanians are getting minimal return. The salmon industry has turned over $7,000 million, and they’ve been taxed $54 million, which is a pittance. If you factor in the cost to the environment, the angst and anxiety that is being placed upon the community with the proposed expansion plans, the costs outweigh the benefits.
I call on the government to commission independent assessments underneath those salmon farms in Macquarie Harbour to determine what is going on there. You need baseline data and an evaluation of the situation before you move forward with any targeted regulation. Until you know exactly what’s going on underneath those pens, you cannot implement satisfactory management measures.
The fact that the salmon industry is saying they’re not giving up one salmon or one job, even though they’re staring at the face of a dead Macquarie Harbour and a species they’re possibly pushing to extinction, the fact that they’re not willing to come to the party and acknowledge it, that is a massive problem.
We can’t blame the salmon industry alone for what has occurred. They’ve been allowed to do what they’ve done. It all comes back on the government. Governments must regulate the corporate sector properly.
If you want to go back, right from the start, it’s been a mess since the Tasmanian Labor Government approved the expansion in Macquarie Harbour on ten days’ science done by a foreign company paid for by the salmon industry. The then government were warned at the beginning about what would happen under that expansion plan. The fella that warned them got it right nearly to the day. The irony of it at all is we’re now waiting on the Federal Labor Government to make a decision on it. It’s absurd that we must wait on the federal government to intervene to get some sort of outcomes that are satisfactory.
Both major parties in this state are complicit in the mess that is the salmon industry. They need to take ownership of this stuff up and get it regulated properly and take the community on board with them going forward with this industry. At this point in time, there is no confidence in the regulation of this salmon industry by the EPA, and that is why I urge the government to act.
