Next Tasmanian Government Urged to Act on Environment

In an open letter published in today’s media, the following groups are calling for urgent action on Tasmania’s environment with recent reports and events highlighting significant ecological decline and prompting a powerful call for urgent action from the state’s next government.

Lutruwita / Tasmania’s environment is in trouble.

From marine heatwaves, toxic algal blooms and over a million dead fish last summer, to the rapid loss of native vegetation and the increase in animals and plants threatened with extinction, Tasmanians are suffering considerable environmental losses. The 2024 State of Environment Report confirmed this with a majority of indicators classified as getting worse.

We call on you to do your job and end Lutruwita / Tasmania’s environmental and economic decline by protecting and investing in nature, the living system that sustains the state’s prosperity, resilience and way of life.

The well-being and prosperity of all Tasmanians relies on a healthy environment.

We call on the next government to make a real change and commit to protecting Lutruwita / Tasmania’s environment from further harm, real action on climate change, and to respect the rights of the Tasmanian Aboriginal people to care for their Country through land returns and Treaty.

Liberal and Labor parties are taking the environment for granted, ignoring signs of ecological collapse, wielding the term ‘environmental activism’ as an insult, and outlawing peaceful protest.

But they are no longer able to govern in majority and must find new ways to work collaboratively in a power-sharing government, in the best interest of Tasmanians and the environment we all rely on.

We the undersigned, call on whoever forms Tasmania’s next government act on the following key asks:

1. Establish a long-term vision and strategy for Tasmania’s environment, as recommended in the State of the Environment report 2024, within 12 months.

2. End native forest logging. This is the most effective way to rapidly reduce Tasmania’s carbon emissions and protect biodiversity.

3. Remove polluting fish farms from Tasmania’s unique waterways.

4. Stop the inappropriate development and the privatisation of reserved land.

5. Deliver secure protection of Takayna / Tarkine with world heritage nomination.

6. Strengthen the management of and extend the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area and National Parks through collaboration with Tasmanian Aboriginal community in a manner that respects their knowledge, rights and interests.

7. Establish a comprehensive, adequate and representative system of marine protected areas in state waters in accordance with national and international commitments, consistent with the Tasmanian Aboriginal community’s rights and interests.

8. Support the dedication of the first proposed Sea Country Indigenous Protected Area in Lutruwita / Tasmania.

9. Immediately engage the Tasmanian Aboriginal community as a senior partner in modernising the outdated Aboriginal Heritage Act.

10. Stop the attack on environmentalism and activism and repeal the undemocratic anti-protest laws.

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