Labor’s bid to protect Tasmania’s salmon industry from legal challenge over its impact on the endangered Maugean Skate is one step closer, amid unease about the government’s commitment to environmental protection.
In a sign of internal angst, sources told Guardian Australia that Labor’s environment caucus committee needed three meetings between Friday and Sunday night to finally reach agreement on the legal intervention.
Labor MPs wanted guarantees of the government’s commitment to environment protection reform in a second term before signing off on the pro-salmon farming laws.
The full caucus endorsed the legislation on Monday morning, clearing the path for it to be pushed through parliament this week.
In February, Anthony Albanese shelved Labor’s promised environment protection agency indefinitely after a backlash from WA, leaving the government’s nature agenda in tatters.
Several Labor sources confirmed Bennelong MP Jerome Laxale – one of the party’s strongest pro-environment advocates – used Monday morning’s caucus meeting to stress the need for the government to honour its environmental commitments.
The now-stalled EPA was just one part of Labor’s wider package of nature positive reforms, which included plans for national environmental standards.
On Monday, a government spokesperson said Labor was committed to laws to strengthen environmental protections and speed up decision-making.
“We will consult on specifics in a second term with the states, business and environment groups,” the spokesperson said.
The government plans to amend the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act to end a formal reconsideration by the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, into whether an expansion of fish farming in Macquarie Harbour in 2012 was properly approved.
The industry, Tasmanian Labor MPs and state Liberal government have lobbied for the change.
The reconsideration was triggered by a legal request in 2023 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.
The legislation would prevent reconsideration requests by third parties in some cases in which developments had been deemed “not a controlled action” – meaning they had not needed a full federal environmental assessment. It would apply when the development was ongoing or recurring, had been underway for at least five years before the request was made, and was subject to state or territory oversight.
The government stressed the laws were drafted with the specific purpose of protecting Tasmanian salmon workers, as it moves to hose down fears it could be applied to fossil fuel projects.
“This bill is very specific – it’s a minor change, with extremely strict criteria – focused on giving Tasmanian workers certainty while government investments protect the Maugean Skate,” the government spokesperson said.
“The existing laws apply to everything else, including all new proposals for coal, gas, and land clearing.”
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Albanese has assumed control of the legislation, effectively sidelining Plibersek in a rerun of his interventions to push the federal EPA off the agenda.
Plibersek will, as environment minister, introduce the legislation to parliament.
The Coalition, which was briefed on the laws for the first time on Monday, is expected to back the intervention after months demanding Labor protect the salmon industry.
The shadow environment minister, Jonno Duniam, said Labor cannot claim credit for “saving” Tasmanian salmon jobs given Plibersek agreed to the review of the 2012 decision.
Speaking ahead of the caucus meeting, Albanese said Labor “makes no apology for supporting jobs”.
“What we know is that the environmental science tells us that the skate is at the same levels that it was back a decade ago. We responded to the science to provide certainty,” he said.
Guardian Australia on Monday revealed Australia’s leading environment organisations – including Australian Conservation Foundation, Greenpeace and WWF Australia – have suspended advertising campaigns attacking the Coalition’s plan to introduce nuclear power and are instead funding ads accusing Albanese of signing “the death warrant” of an endangered species.
The independent senator, David Pocock, said Labor’s legislation was “vandalism of our environment”.
“Labor promised the world when it came to environmental reform, they’ve delivered nothing and actually they’re taking us backwards,” he said.
“Carving out industries from our already weak environmental laws is a betrayal of our future.”
The Greens environment spokeswoman, Sarah Hanson-Young, criticised Labor for ramming the laws through under the cover of Tueday’s budget.
“It is not OK for governments to try and hide this kind of devastating attack,” she said.
