CANBERRA, 25 MARCH 2025—As Prime Minister Anthony Albanese introduces an ill-conceived bill to give Tasmania’s salmon industry a free pass from environmental oversight, Greenpeace Australia Pacific has urged parliament to vote down the legislation, calling it a death warrant for the endangered Maugean Skate.
“With this bill, the Prime Minister has chosen the profits of overseas corporations with unsustainable business models over the survival of the endangered Maugean Skate, of which there are only a few thousand left in the wild,” said Glenn Walker, Head of Nature, Greenpeace Australia Pacific.
“Greenpeace Australia Pacific calls on MPs to vote down this pro-extinction bill, which provides a loophole for the polluting salmon farming industry and also sets a dangerous precedent for giving special treatment to other multinational corporations, such as fossil fuels.
“This pro-extinction bill undermines and contradicts the government’s overnight recommitment to a national environmental protection authority and an overhaul of our nature laws. It risks rendering Labor’s ‘no new extinctions’ pledge worthless.
“It should be a source of deep concern that the Maugean Skate has survived in Tasmanian waters since the age of dinosaurs, but may not survive Anthony Albanese and everyone who votes for this ill-considered legislation. We urge all MPs not to be complicit in this death warrant and vote down the bill.
“It is still not too late for the PM to course-correct, and for Labor to get on with the job fixing our broken nature laws, establishing an independent Environmental Protection Authority, and ending species extinctions in Australia.
“That must start with dropping this terrible bill immediately and focusing instead on solutions to support and transition workers while still allowing industrial activity to be subject to appropriate scrutiny by the Federal Environment Minister, under the EPBC Act.
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For interviews, contact Vai at 0452 290 082 / vaidehi.shah@greenpeace.org
