S1: From the newsrooms of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
S1: This is inside politics. I'm Jacqueline Maley, it's Tuesday, April 29th.
S1: Salmon farming is not something most voters consider when they
S1: go to the polls on Election Day. But for Tasmanian voters,
S1: it is a huge and often divisive issue. Some Tasmanians
S1: believe the industry is polluting and unsustainable. Others see it
S1: as vital local commerce, which is keeping many rural Tasmanians employed.
S1: This debate about the environmental effects of salmon farming is
S1: playing out in an election where any other discussion of
S1: the environment is pretty much non-existent. Which is curious because
S1: energy policy goes hand in hand with the environment. And
S1: that is a decisive topic of this election. And it
S1: is also curious that the federal Environment minister, Tanya Plibersek,
S1: has been very quiet during this campaign. So to get
S1: us into all of this, we are going to talk
S1: to national and environment climate reporter Bianca Hall and energy
S1: correspondent Mike Foley. Welcome, guys.
S2: Hi, Jackie.
S3: Hi. Good to be here.
S1: Bianca, you've just been in Tasmania on a tour of
S1: the important electorates there. Can you tell us why these
S1: Tasmanian seats are so pivotal for this election?
S3: Sure. Well, I think Tasmanians would probably be forgiven for
S3: feeling like they get a bit forgotten during election campaigns
S3: and more broadly. But there's five seats in Tasmania and
S3: two depending on who you ask. Three are very much
S3: in play this election. So we've got bass in the
S3: north east corner of the state, Braddon along the west coast,
S3: Franklin on the southern tip, Clark, which covers Hobart and Lyons,
S3: which covers the centre of the state and the east coast.
S3: And two of these seats are pretty nominally safe. You've
S3: got Franklin, which is held by Fisheries Minister Julie Collins
S3: on 13.7%. Andrew Wilkie, The Independent, holds Clark with a
S3: commanding 20.8% margin, but two of them are ultra marginal
S3: and really in play. So Lyons is held by labor
S3: on just 0.9%, and Bridget Archer for the liberals holds
S3: bass on 1.4%. Even though Braddon is on 8% held
S3: by a Liberal MP, Gavin Pearce, who's retiring, labor absolutely
S3: thinks it's in with a shot in Braddon as well.
S1: Okay, so some of these seats have very slim margins
S1: and salmon farming has become a very central election issue
S1: in Tasmania. Can you tell us why it's getting so
S1: much attention?
S3: Well, I think the big thing obviously is the mortgage
S3: and skate. This is the prehistoric creature that is endangered,
S3: and it only occurs in waters where salmon farming is
S3: occurring around Macquarie Harbour.
S4: The number of Morgan skate in Macquarie Harbour halved in
S4: just seven years.
S3: But there was a mass mortality event in summer this
S3: year that killed more than 1 million fish in the
S3: salmon farms. That was probably the thing that got most
S3: people's attention. Yeah, there was some pretty arresting footage of
S3: huge amounts of salmon dead inside the pens, which were
S3: taken by drone footage.
S4: Live salmon being siphoned out of a pen and sealed
S4: away with dead salmon. It's a vision that's alarmed the
S4: RSPCA and now the animal welfare charity.
S3: And there was also the pretty revolting prospect of chunks
S3: of salmon washing up on beaches surrounding the pens. People
S3: walking their dogs and coming across enormous chunks of salmon. Pretty, um, yeah,
S3: pretty gross stuff.
S5: From oily chunks washing up on this very beach after
S5: an unprecedented mass salmon die off event.
S1: But, Mike, even before the sort of mass extinction event
S1: that we had, basically, there's a lot of people who
S1: think salmon farming is dirty and polluting the waters and
S1: that it's sort of almost like a battery hen type situation.
S1: Tell us a bit about the industry more generally.
S2: Well, the concerns with the industry around its environmental impact, Jackie,
S2: are about and Bianca will add to this, I'm sure,
S2: but it's about the impact that salmon, let's call it
S2: waste from the fish that they get fed. Fish food
S2: there they they eat that, they expel it. And that
S2: adds nutrients to the environment and especially into that one
S2: location of Macquarie Harbour. That nutrient imbalance is creating algal
S2: growth and an imbalance in the ecosystem that sucks oxygen
S2: out of the water, basically. And that's one impact that
S2: makes it harder for the Morgan skate to survive, makes
S2: it harder for them to breed as well. This is
S2: in very simple terms, and as Bianca rightly pointed out,
S2: it's so rare it's classed as critically endangered. Top red
S2: level alert of dropping off the face of the planet,
S2: that there's this open question about whether this practice in
S2: that one confined harbour can continue, or if the risk
S2: is so great that it's too much of a threat
S2: to the future survival of this prehistoric creature that occurs
S2: nowhere else in the world. More broadly than that, though,
S2: there is the same concerns, but spread out all across
S2: the let's call it an industrial precinct. I mean, is
S2: that an okay term to use, Bianca, where there's farming
S2: up and down the coast of Tassie as well, and
S2: there's similar issues about water degradation, let's call it around
S2: the salmon farms in the ocean environment as well, around
S2: the coast.
S3: Yeah, I'd absolutely agree with the industrial descriptor. You know,
S3: going past these places on boats and we're on two boats.
S3: One of them was an enormous commercial cruise that went
S3: through Macquarie Harbour and up the Gordon River. But we
S3: also went on a smaller boat on the East coast
S3: and went pretty close to the pens. And they are enormous.
S3: They measure up to 240m in circumference. They're huge things
S3: and they go down about 20m underneath the surface of
S3: the water, so they're pretty tightly packed in there as
S3: they get bigger. Apparently you can get about 10,000 adult fish.
S3: I just say one thing. Just you're talking about the
S3: marine environment in Macquarie Harbour. Mike, it's really interesting because
S3: you've got the river water on top in Macquarie Harbour
S3: and then the saltwater underneath. And so the river water
S3: is really quite dense when you're on a boat and
S3: you're going through Macquarie Harbour, it looks like you're going
S3: through black tea. There's not a lot of oxygen in
S3: the top layer of the water, so it's actually more
S3: prone to a low oxygenation rates than normal ocean water.
S3: And every couple of years they get a big sort
S3: of swell of ocean water coming through underneath that oxygenates
S3: that marine environment. But in recent years they've been not
S3: having that kind of effect. So there is a trial
S3: underway of $37.5 million, Reoxygenation trial where the the federal
S3: government has, um, got essentially barges that are pumping oxygen
S3: into the marine environment trying to create that effect that
S3: the saltwater flows have.
S4: The emoji and skate is only found in Macquarie Harbour
S4: on Tasmania's west coast. The state and federal governments are
S4: funding a captive breeding program in an effort to save
S4: the endangered species.
S1: Yeah, I want to talk about the upside of the
S1: industry as well. I mean, we just want to add
S1: that in for balance. Obviously, there's a lot of concerns
S1: over its environmental effects, but it's a popular industry amongst
S1: some people in Tasmania because it's a job creator and
S1: it's good for the economy. Can you tell us a
S1: little bit about that?
S3: Yeah, I mean, the industry is valued at about $1.37
S3: billion a year. It's a big money earner. It also employs,
S3: depending on who you ask, between 1700 and 5000 people
S3: in Tasmania in full time and casual jobs, and some
S3: of them direct jobs, some of them indirect jobs. But yeah,
S3: Salmon Tasmania says that it employs about half the population.
S3: Working population in Strahan for example.
S1: Mhm. Okay. So there's basically a conflict between the environmental
S1: concerns and those who would rather overlook those concerns or
S1: dismiss them as less important than the job creation and
S1: the economic benefits of the industry. I mean, Anthony Albanese
S1: has very much come down on one side of this debate.
S6: Indeed, this industry is worth $1 billion. Very vital for Tasmania.
S6: Vital for Australia and vital for our national interest.
S1: We saw him, I think, in February. Go down to
S1: Tasmania and eat a salmon supper very, very obviously for
S1: the cameras. What was he sort of doing down there
S1: and where was he, Bianca?
S3: He was at a barbecue at Petuna Seafood in Devonport.
S3: You could say he was putting his money where his
S3: mouth was. He was alongside Senator Anne Urquhart, who is
S3: a labor senator for Tasmania, has three years left of
S3: her term and has been convinced to run for Braddon
S3: for labor, with the retiring MP Gavin Pearce stepping aside.
S3: So the Prime Minister was very clearly saying, you know,
S3: I'm here and Urquhart is here, and we fully back
S3: this industry and the workers and the union that represents them.
S1: Yeah. Okay. And then it was about a week after
S1: that visit to Britain that the mass salmon death occurred
S1: that you spoke about before. So it's always been or
S1: particularly recently been a very controversial, perhaps divisive issue locally
S1: in Tasmania. But more recently it leapt onto the national
S1: debate and we saw Senator Hanson-Young, Greens senator, bring a
S1: prop into the upper chamber. What did she do? Mike,
S1: it was a sort of pretty stinky stunt.
S2: Yeah, it was visually arresting. Let's say she brought she
S2: went to the local Costco in Canberra, picked up a
S2: whole gutted dead salmon. It was defrosted. She snuck it
S2: in to the chamber underneath some copies of The Age
S2: and Sydney Morning Herald print editions. Fantastic use of the product.
S1: What a what a great honor for us. Yeah, well,
S1: they always say that we're tomorrow's fish and chip wrapping paper. Right.
S1: So this is a slight.
S3: This is to prove that wasn't it.
S1: Yeah. It's a bit of a tweak.
S7: A rotten, stinking extinction. Salmon. Extinction. Salmon. Senator. Senator Hanson-Young.
S7: Remove the prop from the chamber.
S2: It was a piscatorial stunt, but it had a serious
S2: meaning for her and the opponents of a move that
S2: Anthony Albanese spearheaded. She was protesting the government's reform to
S2: environment law that was basically safeguarding the Macquarie Harbour salmon
S2: farming industry. It was it's very complicated and targeted, but
S2: it was essentially removing the right of third parties like
S2: environmental groups and so on, to challenge the approval that
S2: was given to the Macquarie Harbour farming operations. It's it is,
S2: as you can imagine, obscure. National environment law. And it's
S2: and there's a lot of conjecture over how nasty a
S2: reform that is for future cases, whether it might block
S2: challenges to coal mines, that that might be needed to
S2: be waged, and other people claim that it's just fixing
S2: up a loophole. If the the project has been approved
S2: in the past, why should it be open to incessant
S2: challenges in the future? A lot of debate over it,
S2: but Sarah Hanson-Young was making a point that she she
S2: vehemently disapproved of the move.
S1: Yeah. Where is environment Minister Tanya Plibersek in all of this?
S1: Have we seen her say anything about the salmon farming issue?
S2: Jackie, you told me she's been nowhere on it really,
S2: especially since this federal election campaign kicked off four weeks ago.
S2: She had a decision on her desk for many months
S2: over the future of those salmon farming operations in Macquarie Harbour,
S2: and she kicked the can down the road and extended
S2: the deadline, which is in her right to do. But
S2: she extended the deadline way out beyond the polling day
S2: in the federal election in a move to neutralise the issue.
S2: As she did, that Anthony Albanese essentially pre-empted her decision
S2: and said to the industry and to Tasmania, don't worry,
S2: I'm guaranteeing jobs in the industry. And since then, Tanya
S2: Plibersek hasn't really played a public role in advocating for
S2: or against the decision or the industry.
S1: Labor seems to be treading very softly, to say the least,
S1: on environmental issues in this election. Would you agree with that, Mike?
S2: I would, yes. Um, I, I think that Anthony Albanese
S2: has made a calculation about how to maximise his chances
S2: of picking up all the seats he wants to, and
S2: he's doing that by sidelining environmental issues and making controversial
S2: calls on those issues. Salmon farming is a case in point.
S2: The calculation he has made is that the voters he
S2: annoys by doing that have nowhere else to go in
S2: his mind except to the greens. And typically the greens
S2: preferences will flow back to labor. Voters might just suck
S2: up their disappointment and vote for labor anyway. Or thirdly,
S2: if they choose to vote for one of the rising
S2: number of independents, Albanese has done the numbers. And you
S2: better believe he gets the abacus out before elections himself
S2: and personally runs the numbers extremely carefully. And he's decided
S2: that those independents, in the number of seats that he's
S2: worried about won't affect Labor's chances of winning the election.
S2: So essentially, he's saying we need to champion the blue
S2: collar vote or the vote for people that are concerned
S2: about the economy, because we don't want people worried about jobs,
S2: cost of living and inflation and so on to be
S2: put offside by our more environmentally minded reforms.
S1: Yeah. What about Plibersek and Albanese's relationship more generally? There's
S1: been a lot of speculation about it. People have said
S1: that she's been sidelined, that the environment portfolio was a
S1: bit of a poisoned chalice to begin with. And then
S1: last year we saw Albanese sort of basically scuttle a
S1: key policy that Plibersek had been working on for quite
S1: some time. Can you tell us about that, Mike?
S2: So that was the promise that labor made in 2022
S2: to create a national environment watchdog known as the Environment
S2: Protection Agency or the EPA. So they made an election promise.
S2: Tanya Plibersek, it's fair to say, took three years to
S2: get that reform into parliament, really, by all accounts, dragged
S2: her heels a lot to get it in there almost
S2: at the last minute before the election was set to
S2: be called, she indicated that she had a deal with
S2: the Greens to get the necessary votes to to create
S2: the EPA in the Senate. And as we were talking
S2: about before, Anthony Albanese was concerned about that being a
S2: bad look to some voters in the upcoming election. So
S2: labor siding with the Greens, um, to put more regulations
S2: on industry. So he reached out across Tanya Plibersek, let's say,
S2: and scuttled the deal with the Greens. It's correct to
S2: say he went around Tanya Plibersek when doing that.
S1: Yep. Captain's call went over our head.
S6: David.
S8: Shouldn't you have told your minister, Tanya Plibersek this was
S8: not going to happen before you told the Greens?
S6: We did.
S8: You told Tanya Plibersek before telling the Greens. We there
S8: was no deal.
S6: We informed all of our ministers, were informed the whole
S6: way through about how things were.
S1: We also saw this very sort of awkward looking interaction
S1: between the two at the Labor Party campaign launch. It
S1: was a sort of missed axis type situation, and a
S1: little bit of fun was had with it. What did
S1: you make of that, Mike? Was that was that a
S1: media beat up, or was that a sort of accurate
S1: reflection of how awkward and frosty their relationship is?
S2: It's one of those magic moments where the pictures, um,
S2: really tell the the story that's going on behind the scenes.
S2: It was that personal relationship and the visceral reaction they
S2: had of the awkwardness of the whole situation, because Tanya
S2: Plibersek and Anthony Albanese are stars of the New South
S2: Wales Labor Party in the left wing faction, and they're
S2: both rivals. You've got charismatic, photogenic Tanya Plibersek, who is
S2: popular among Labor Party faithful, let alone the entire electorate.
S2: Anthony Albanese has worked his way up and done the
S2: hard yards to become leader, and he sees Plibersek as
S2: as a rival to his leadership, even though they could
S2: by all intents and purposes be allies and support each other.
S2: But he's nervous about her leadership potential, so there was
S2: a bit of that early pullback, nervous moment when they
S2: went to meet each other in the middle of this
S2: election campaign. And it came just a day or two
S2: after Anthony Albanese had once again stomped all over Tanya
S2: Plibersek turf without a mention of her. He was up
S2: at the Great Barrier Reef in the middle of the
S2: election campaign, highlighting Labor's great work on climate action and
S2: reducing emissions to save the Great Barrier Reef. And his
S2: factional ally, let's call it in ironic terms, Tanya Plibersek
S2: was nowhere to be seen. Didn't get her mug on
S2: the cameras and that's no mistake.
S1: Yeah, I love how even amongst all the artifice of politics,
S1: the body language just doesn't lie in those moments. I
S1: want to ask you both reflecting on the last three years.
S1: It seems like, as we've discussed, Albanese has blocked some
S1: or a few significant attempts at reform from Tanya Plibersek,
S1: the environment ministers, and those reforms have been promised to voters.
S1: So I just want to ask whether you think labor
S1: has fulfilled its promises on the environment and whether it's
S1: basically got a good report card on environmental issues. What
S1: do you think, Mike?
S2: I think it's fair to say they haven't delivered on
S2: their promises. So run through it really briefly. They guaranteed
S2: in the 2022 election campaign that they'd create that EPA
S2: that we were talking about. The national environment watchdog hasn't
S2: been done. They also said that they would work on
S2: reforming national environment laws, sort of indicating that they were
S2: hoping to deliver that in Parliament, and there's no evidence
S2: of what work they've done other than consult with industry
S2: and become scared of the mining industry on that. And
S2: there hasn't been much progress outside of that. On actual
S2: environmental reform, we're.
S9: Talking not just about the creation of a new environment
S9: protection agency, but a quite fundamental rewriting of our environment laws.
S9: We want to see stronger environmental protections, but also faster,
S9: clearer decision making. And that's the path we've embarked on.
S2: Well, to be fair, it has to be said that
S2: Labour has done a lot of work on emissions reduction
S2: and setting climate targets and getting in place reforms in
S2: the energy grid to switch fossil fuels for renewables. And
S2: there's conjecture over how much progress they're making, to be sure,
S2: but they are making progress there. So it's a mixed
S2: bag across that spectrum, in my opinion, but they haven't
S2: delivered what they said they would. On environmental reform.
S3: Yeah, I mean, I'd say that they've done some pretty
S3: solid work on reducing emissions. That's been a big factor
S3: and a big focus of this first term. But I
S3: think you'd have to say that, you know, Anthony Albanese
S3: came to power promising to strengthen environmental laws and is
S3: on the day before calling the election, he's actually significantly
S3: reduced them or weakened them. Yeah.
S1: And what do you think is going to happen in
S1: those Tasmanian seats?
S3: Guys, I think the electorates in Tasmania are interesting. I mean,
S3: one electorate I didn't really speak about is Franklin, which
S3: although it's on a pretty solid margin of 13.7% with
S3: Julie Collins, the fisheries Minister. Um, we have an anti
S3: salmon candidate who's solidly backed by the Greens. One of
S3: the leaders of his campaign is Paul Thomas, who happens
S3: to be married to Bob Brown. It's a well-resourced campaign
S3: backed by $30,000 in climate, 200 money. They actually think
S3: they're in with a bit of a shot in that seat,
S3: but in Tasmania they have a pretty solid tradition of
S3: voting below the line and numbering every single box. And
S3: that's obviously influenced by the fact that they have a
S3: hare-clark voting system in state elections. But they also do
S3: it in the Senate. And, you know, who did you
S3: put number 58in the Senate? You know, it's a bit
S3: of a question. So I think, um, I think we
S3: could see the possibility of more independence across the country.
S3: And I think the green and the independent vote will
S3: probably go up in Tasmania.
S2: How do you think it's going to shake out in
S2: Braddon with with Macquarie Harbour in that seat?
S3: I think labor is going to get within striking distance
S3: of Braddon. Wow. They internally and also people in the
S3: Greens as well, think the 8%, uh, margin that the
S3: liberals hold that seat on. And remember Gavin Pearce is
S3: retiring is a bit of a freak result. They think
S3: and I think their internal polling is showing. It's pretty close.
S1: There you go. The salmon industry will thank them if
S1: they win. Braddon.
S3: Absolutely.
S1: Listen, guys, that was absolutely fascinating. Thank you so much.
S1: I love doing these deep dives. And Tasmania is such
S1: a fascinating electorate with so many sort of different issues
S1: going on. Wonderful place to visit. I really appreciate you
S1: guys joining me today.
S3: Thank you so much for having us.
S2: Thanks, jacki.
S1: Today's episode was produced by Julia Katzel with technical assistance
S1: from Cormac Lally. Our executive producer is Tami Mills, and
S1: Tom McKendrick is our head of audio. To listen to
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S1: Age or smh.com.au. Subscribe. I'm Jacqueline Maley, thank you for listening.