THE HON TANYA PLIBERSEK MP
MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2GB DRIVE WITH CHRIS O’KEEFE
THURSDAY, 17 OCTOBER 2024
SUBJECTS: SALMON FARMING, MCPHILLAMYS GOLD MINE.
CHRIS O'KEEFE, HOST: Joining me now is the Minister for the Environment, Tanya Plibersek.
TANYA PLIBERSEK, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: Nice to be with you, Chris.
O'KEEFE: And you. So, salmon industry has been farming Macquarie Harbour for 40 years. Are they going to be able to continue to do so?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, we know that salmon is a really important industry for Tasmania and Labor is a great supporter of the Tasmanian salmon industry. We know the environment is really important for Tasmanian jobs, too. It's one of the reasons that so many people love to go there. This process is not something that I brought on. It's something that some environmental groups have initiated under John Howard's environment laws. They're the laws I've got, as Environment Minister, to operate, and so I'm just methodically going through the process of looking at all of the evidence.
There is a lot of new evidence coming through. Because of the endangered status of the skate, we're reoxygenating the harbour in Macquarie Harbour. We've got a mechanical oxygenation trial going on, we've got a captive breeding program going on. And as part of the process here, two and a half thousand submissions have come in from people who've got an interest in this that I'm just considering in the same methodical way I would any decision I need to make.
O'KEEFE: What trumps – this is what I don't understand about all this. You’ve got 50 per cent of residents in some of these towns employed in the salmon farming industry, contribute $770 million to the local economy every year. And I'm sure the Maugean skate is a beautiful creature. I don't know.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: It's actually not that beautiful, to be honest.
O'KEEFE: I've seen it and I didn't want to be – I didn't want to be rude about it. But ultimately, what trumps you? Human or the skate?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: So, we need to get a balance of both. The skate's been around for 60 million years. It's a dinosaur fish. You know, that's pretty interesting. It's the only place on earth that it exists. We want a strong salmon industry in Tasmania. In fact, we've continued to invest in it and support it and modernise as a federal government, as a state government, Tasmanian state governments and Tasmanian Labor, all very keen on the salmon industry, but we've got to make sure that these things can coexist. And there's always the issue, Chris. Right? We want jobs in Australia. About 75 per cent of our exports depend on nature. About half of Australian jobs are kind of linked to nature one way or another.
O'KEEFE: I understand that but they've been doing it for 40 years. These guys have been doing it for 40 years and the skate still exists. Why can't they do it for another 40?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Yeah, well, the reason the numbers have plummeted so much is because the water quality in Macquarie Harbour has got much worse in recent years. The industry there has expanded quite significantly in recent years and what it does is it chews up oxygen in the water. That's the essential problem we've got. The fish, and particularly the waste from the fish, chews up oxygen in the harbour and it makes it very difficult for the skate to survive in that deoxygenated water. So, that's why we're looking at this. We've got this trial going on of mechanical reoxygenation of the water. We're seeing whether that can make a difference. We're seeing whether it's water management –
O'KEEFE: – And if it can't, are these people really going to be put out of business?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, they're going to have to, you know, they're going to have to work to make sure that what they're doing is not having these negative consequences for nature. We've got to balance –
O'KEEFE: – You are legitimately thinking about putting these people out of business?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: No, not for a moment. This has come from three requests from environment groups that I need to consider based on John Howard's laws.
O'KEEFE: They request everything Minister, you know what these people are like.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: I can't ignore the law if it's inconvenient.
O'KEEFE: No, but you can ignore the activists.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: That's how you get Robodebt, that's how you get sports rorts, car park rorts and so on. What we need to do is have a balance, right? If you want your kids and grandkids to be able to see a koala in the wild, to catch a fish from a river that's not polluted, to swim at a beach that doesn't have tar balls washing up on it or plastic pollution. If we want these things, and for our grandkids to be able to go camping in a national park in 50 years’ time, that means we have to look after it, right? That's my job as Environment Minister to make sure –
O'KEEFE: – Yeah sure, and it's the job of the salmon farmers to feed their children.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Yeah, and we want a strong salmon industry in Tasmania, as I keep saying, we know it's a big employer.
O'KEEFE: So, you're not shutting it down?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: It's just a nonsense proposition to suggest that the whole salmon industry would be shut down –
O'KEEFE: – No but in Macquarie Harbour, in Macquarie Harbour specifically? In Macquarie Harbour specifically. Will they be able to – are you considering at all shutting down salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: I can't give you an opinion, Chris. I'm a decision-maker here. I have to consider all of the evidence before me in a methodical way, and that's what I'll do. It's not about the vibe of a Minister who will have to make a decision based on the law and based on the science. But in the meanwhile, the salmon industry is continuing in Macquarie Harbour, and in the meanwhile, we're doing reoxygenation trials, we're doing a captive breeding program, which, in fact, I visited yesterday and saw the female skate, they've laid over 100 eggs. I think there's been about 14 hatchlings so far. It's great. They're going great guns in captivity, so that's good news.
O'KEEFE: Speaking of vibes, the Blayney gold mine was very vibey, that decision.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: That's not right, Chris. It's just not right, and again –
O'KEEFE: – It was very, very vibey.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Thousands of thousands of pages of evidence. And what is extraordinary is that you've got people saying, I should ignore the evidence and ignore people's submissions. You know, Peter Dutton saying, I'd approve it. He's never looked at a page of evidence that I've looked at. He's just gonna –
O'KEEFE: – Either you’re on the side of human beings who want to make a quid. Either salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour or gold mining in Blayney, or you're on the side of environmental activists.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: No, that's absolutely not true. And just incidentally, that McPhillamys project, I haven't stopped the gold mine. I've said 16 per cent of the site has to be protected. They just need to move the tailings dam, the mine can proceed. Their share price has gone up by 37 per cent since I made that decision. The CEO –
O'KEEFE: – What's it got to do with the share price?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, it means that people are assuming it's going to go ahead.
O'KEEFE: Yeah but you’ve got to admit, hang on a second, Minister, you've got advice yourself that it was now unviable as a result of this decision.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: The company have said – they think that it may be unviable, and yet, at the same time, they've also said that they're looking at other alternatives. The CEO and the chair of the board have bought thousands of extra shares, and the share price has gone up by 37 per cent. So, obviously, some people think it's viable or they wouldn't be spending thousands of dollars buying shares.
Also, here's another thing. If you ask, I didn't make my decision based on what the farmers out there are saying, but you talk about jobs, you talk to the farmers around that farm, about — around that mine site, about how they feel about the river being dammed and having a tailings dam put on top of it. And what that means potentially –
O'KEEFE: – Which farmers?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Oh, I don't have their names in front of me, but –
O'KEEFE: I feel like Margaret Thatcher to George Negus. Which farmers?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: You can —
O'KEEFE: Where are they? It's all very vibey.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: No, that's not true. There's Belubula Headwaters, Belubula Headwaters Protection Group, that have put out press releases about this. Google it. It's not hard. There are plenty of people in that local community who are alarmed at the idea of what a tailings dam on a river would do to their businesses down the river.
O'KEEFE: Minister, we've run out of time. I appreciate you coming on, as usual.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Always a pleasure. Thanks.
O'KEEFE: That’s the Minister for the Environment, Tanya Plibersek.
END
