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Speaker 1: From the Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.

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Speaker 1: It's Monday, December two. Jim Chalmers has raised taxes by

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Speaker 1: forty four billion dollars and added one hundred and four

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Speaker 1: billion in spending to the federal budget. That's the stark

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Speaker 1: analysis from economist Chris Richardson. It's an exclusive live now

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Speaker 1: at the Australian dot Com. Do reu in the cold

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Speaker 1: waters of Tasmania's West coast leaves a little endangered fish

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Speaker 1: that's causing a big drama for the local salmon farmers.

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Speaker 1: They Fair Environment Minister Tania Plibersek will seek to kill

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Speaker 1: off salmon farming to save the Morgan skate and it's

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Speaker 1: playing into a high stakes tussle between Plibisek and the

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Speaker 1: Prime Minister. Today, the intriguing battle between Anthony Albernizi and

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Speaker 1: Tania Plibisek. They should be the closest of allies, both

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Speaker 1: warriors of the Labor Left, representing Inner Sydney, where Labour's

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Speaker 1: greatest foe is not the Conservatives but the Greens. Once

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Speaker 1: Anthony Alberanizi and Tanny plib set gave every appearance of

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Speaker 1: being good friends, but that's over. The first time this

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Speaker 1: registered on the national consciousness was after the twenty twenty

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Speaker 1: two election, when plibset missed out on becoming Minister for

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Speaker 1: the two portfolios she'd spent years stamping with her name,

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Speaker 1: Education and Women. Instead, Alberanzi made her Minister for the

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Speaker 1: Environment and Water.

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Speaker 2: There was no reason whatsoever other than cure politics to

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Speaker 2: appoint miss Pliversek and in a city Sydney residing MP

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Speaker 2: as having courage for the Murray Darling Basin to have

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Speaker 2: to handle really tricky gas coal and other mining projects

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Speaker 2: for an inner city MP who's always been under threat

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Speaker 2: from the grains.

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Speaker 1: Jeff Chambers is the Australian's chief political correspondent.

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Speaker 2: As always in politics, there are old scores to settle,

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Speaker 2: and you always want to ensure that your direct rivals,

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Speaker 2: in their case in the same faction but from different camps,

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Speaker 2: isn't given a portfolio that might elevate them, And in

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Speaker 2: this case she was given a portfolio that would really

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Speaker 2: blog down her time because she had to get her

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Speaker 2: head around things and politically would make things difficult for her.

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Speaker 1: Albanesi and Plibisek had been on different sides in the

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Speaker 1: tussle between Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard. They both served

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Speaker 1: as senior ministers, but Alberanzi was a rud loyalist and

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Speaker 1: Pliberseick was closer to Guillard. In twenty nineteen, Plibosek stood

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Speaker 1: back when Alberanzi wanted the leadership, allowing him to be

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Speaker 1: elected opposed. When announcing Plyisk for the environment job, Albanezi

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Speaker 1: said tackling the Murray Daling basin and protecting the environment

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Speaker 1: needed a strong decision maker. Tell you someone who can

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Speaker 1: get things done. As soon as she stepped into the job,

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Speaker 1: Plibisk began leading the charge on something called nature positive reforms.

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Speaker 1: Nature positive basically means using the tools of the government

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Speaker 1: like regulation and watchdogs to try to stop the extinction

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Speaker 1: of species and the destruction of wild places. Plebisc's plan

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Speaker 1: was big to create a new watchdog called the Environment

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Speaker 1: Protection Authority and new environment standards benchmarks to help the

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Speaker 1: EPA decide where the projects could go ahead.

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Speaker 3: When these laws pass, it will be the first time

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Speaker 3: any government has defined nature positive in legislation. We've defined

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Speaker 3: it and I quote as an improvement in the diversity, abundance,

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Speaker 3: resilience and integrity of ecosystems from a baseline.

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Speaker 1: But the government doesn't control the Senate, so every piece

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Speaker 1: of legislation is a tussle with the Greens and the

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Speaker 1: crossbenches to get anything done. That left Liversex's Nature Positive

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Speaker 1: laws in a tough situation. The Coalition felt they were

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Speaker 1: dangerous for mining and resources projects, and the Greens felt

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Speaker 1: they didn't go far enough. First, the government through the

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Speaker 1: new Environment Standards overboard and then flubsc plowed on with

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Speaker 1: negotiations with the Greens and Crossbench, but at the last

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Speaker 1: minute Albanesi decided it was all too hard and dumped

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Speaker 1: the legislation altogether.

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Speaker 2: There was just too much in what the Greens were

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Speaker 2: demanding in return for their support. Had it from an

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Speaker 2: electoral perspective, it was too dangerous for Antony Alberanneasy when

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Speaker 2: you're looking at big mining states like Western Australia and Queensland,

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Speaker 2: and the WA premier himself, Roger Cook, had been very

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Speaker 2: both publicly and privately opposed to Nature Positive and you

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Speaker 2: can see the timelines there as to when Anthony Albanezi

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Speaker 2: stepped in right the last second, with so many other

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Speaker 2: bits of legislation, probably thought he might get away with it,

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Speaker 2: but he clearly has not, and that now, I guess,

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Speaker 2: shines a light on all interactions that he will have

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Speaker 2: with Taniel plibasicating to the election.

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Speaker 1: Coming up after the break. Now Fliberzek faces a new

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Speaker 1: battle over the Tasmanian salmon we'd all like to be

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Speaker 1: eating this Christmas that's after the break on the west

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Speaker 1: coast of Tasmania is a feud that looks straight out

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Speaker 1: of a Norwegian fairy tale. There are snow capped mountains

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Speaker 1: and forested shores and a thriving salmon farming industry. It's

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Speaker 1: been controversial for a while, with activists saying the giant

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Speaker 1: salmon farmer cause pollution and to drain oxygen from the water,

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Speaker 1: risking other species like the endangered Morgan skate. That's a

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Speaker 1: fish that looks a bit like a ray, with a

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Speaker 1: triangular body and a diet of little crabs which it

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Speaker 1: hoovers off the seafloor. The more Gan skate only lives

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Speaker 1: in a few places, and Macquarie Harbor is one of them.

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Speaker 1: Plibsek has said there's estimated to be only forty to

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Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty adult skates living in the harbor,

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Speaker 1: but the salmon farmers fear this little fish will be

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Speaker 1: used by Plibisek to kill off their jobs.

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Speaker 2: I was having a chat to the local mayor there,

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Speaker 2: Shane Pit today, and they've got real concerns about the

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Speaker 2: future of the local school workers. There's so much uncertainty there.

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Speaker 2: But if they leave the area, then that small little

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Speaker 2: school might have to shut down. There's workers there who

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Speaker 2: are saying, look, we're holding off buying homes. We'd like

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Speaker 2: to buy a home here, but if something happens to

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Speaker 2: the industry, we can't commit to this area. A lot

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Speaker 2: of industry and political people down and Tasmania are telling

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Speaker 2: me that if Anthony Albanesi can't get this right, that

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Speaker 2: this could be his Mark Latham moment. As we all

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Speaker 2: know in two thousand and four election, the way he

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Speaker 2: handled the forestry issue. John Howard just ruthlessly went in

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Speaker 2: there and swept the seats up there in Northern Tazi,

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Speaker 2: very senior members of the Left, including Anthony Aberanezi himself,

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Speaker 2: Katie Gallagher and others have been talking directly with the

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Speaker 2: Tasmanian salmon fisheries and that's not normal. That's usually something

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Speaker 2: that the Minister would do if that's their domain. But

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Speaker 2: everyone understands that this next election could be very tight

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Speaker 2: and for Peter Dunton, he's hoping to win both Bradon

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Speaker 2: and Bass up there in northern Tasmania and also pick

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Speaker 2: up lines, which would be a massive result for him.

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Speaker 2: I think this has been a known problem for Anthony

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Speaker 2: Alberanesi for some months now. There's been delegations here in Canberra.

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Speaker 2: As I said, he's visited there a couple of times

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Speaker 2: and my understanding is he will be back there early

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Speaker 2: in the new year, in January. That's what I've heard,

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Speaker 2: and I guess it will come down to how does

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Speaker 2: he get around the legal side of things. They want

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Speaker 2: to be able to announce something which would be legally

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Speaker 2: sound and wouldn't see some ugly federal court fight with

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Speaker 2: environmentalists down in Tasmania.

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Speaker 1: Jeff Chambers is The Australian's chief political correspondent. First Lobsters

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Speaker 1: now avocados are battling to get into the Chinese market.

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Speaker 1: That's an exclusive from our China correspondent, Will Glasgow. Check

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Speaker 1: it out now at The Australian dot com AU