Former Greens leader Bob Brown has urged the minor party not to preference Labor ahead of the Liberal party in Tasmanian seats at the upcoming election if the Albanese government legislates to effectively exempt salmon farming from national environment laws.
Conservationists have sharply criticised Anthony Albanese’s pledge that he will rush through legislation next week to protect the salmon industry in Macquarie Harbour, on the state’s west coast, from the potential results of a long-running legal review.
The legislation has been listed to be introduced in parliament on Tuesday as an amendment to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. It is planned to end a formal reconsideration by the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, into whether an expansion of fish farming in the harbour in 2012 was properly approved.
The reconsideration was triggered by a legal request from three environmentally focused organisations. An environment department opinion released under freedom of information laws suggested that it could lead to salmon farming having to stop in the harbour while an environmental impact statement was prepared.
Guardian Australia has learned the legislation would prevent reconsideration requests in cases where developments were deemed “not a controlled action” – meaning they did not need a full federal environmental assessment. To qualify, the developments would need to be ongoing or recurring, have been under way for at least five years before the request was made, and be subject to state or territory oversight.
A spokesperson for Albanese this week said the government would amend the “flawed” environment law “to secure jobs and local industries”.
Asked on Friday if he would support the amendment, the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, said: “Absolutely. We’ve proposed it. We’ve been months and months and months ahead of the game in relation to the salmon industry. We have stood with the salmon industry, with workers.”
Environmentalists said the change would weaken laws that were already failing to protect Australia’s most celebrated natural sites or to stop species going extinct. Brown said if Albanese acted on his pledge it would be “the lowest direct act by a national Labor government against Australia’s environment in memory”.
“On coalmines, gas fracking, forest logging and now industrial fish farms, Labor and Liberal are in lockstep in this epic age of environmental destruction,” he said. “Greens voters should be directed to preference like-minded candidates on this critical issue, but then be left to decide which of the old parties to put last.”
On Saturday, Plibersek announced Labor would commit $250m over five years to help meet its commitment to protect 30% of Australian land by 2030. She said the commitment would “save another 30m hectares of bushland – an area bigger than New Zealand”. The funding was welcomed by nature organisations, but some doubted it would not be enough to ensure an area that large was protected.
On the new legislation, the Wilderness Society said it could lead to the extinction of the Maugean skate, an endangered species endemic to the harbour, and undermine the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. Its campaign manager, Sam Szoke-Burke, said: “If passed, this bill will be remembered as Prime Minister Albanese cementing species loss into law. It would be in stark contrast to Bob Hawke’s legacy of protecting the Franklin [River].”
Brendan Sydes, from the Australian Conservation Foundation, said Albanese had failed to deliver a promised revamp of environmental law, had intervened on behalf of mining and resources interests to shelve a proposed national environment protection agency and was now planning to reduce nature protection.
“We really need a PM who is prepared to step up and deliver on the commitments his government has made on environmental law reform and start acting in the national interest, rather than acting in the interests of environmentally harmful industries,” he said.
Alexia Wellbelove, from the Australian Marine Conservation Society, said Labor had set a goal of “no new extinctions”, but risked “being responsible for the world’s first marine fish extinction caused directly by aquaculture”.
The independent Tasmanian MP Andrew Wilkie said Albanese was prioritising winning a seat that “they’re probably not going to win anyway” – Braddon, in the state’s north-west – over saving a species from extinction.
“That’s just an appalling misstep by Anthony Albanese and his government, and an appalling breakdown in good governance and proper process,” Wilkie said. “I’m very disappointed in Albo, he’s better than this.”
A spokesperson for the Greens leader, Adam Bandt, said preferences were “a matter for the party, but our focus is on keeping Peter Dutton out and getting Labor to act”. “This attempt to ram through further weakening of our environment laws at the behest of big corporations is going to make people very angry,” they said.
The government has said it remained committed to reforming environment law if it wins the next election, but has not released details.
