Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Yuck, yes! It's gross. It's really gross. That's not as gross, believe it or not, as the images I'm sure some honourable members have seen of the beaches on the east coast in Tasmania and on Bruny Island in recent weeks with rotting fish carcasses and globules of fish oil—up on the beaches, which the Tasmania government said are completely safe. 'The water is clean, and the beaches are fine, but do not touch the fish.'

Do these people know how silly they look? It would be funny except it's so serious. It's serious insofar as ensuring the industry is sustainable. It's serious insofar as ensuring the environment is protected and safe. And it's serious when it comes to the very pointed matter here tonight of the extinction crisis. This is the context in which we're saying: 'The fish farms can stay in Macquarie Harbour,' and the government and—I don't know—I think the opposition are saying that they don't give two hoots about one of the planet's oldest species becoming extinct.

Why is all this happening? Why are the government and the opposition acting so patently at odds with the best interests of the natural environment, and of a threatened species in particular, and so at odds with the public interest, so at odds with the groundswell of discontent on the backbench and so at odds with having the best reputation for the industry in the future? It is for one reason: to harvest a few hundred votes in the electorate of Braddon. It is that crude, that blunt and that ugly. The government is happy—well, it is prepared, I should say—to drive the Maugean skate to extinction because it might improve its chances of winning the Tasmanian north-west and west coast seat of Braddon.

When you think about it in that context, it's all the more ugly. I suppose the government might hope there's some benefit in the seat of Franklin and in the seat of Lyons, both of which also have fish farms. But, oh, the irony of it! The member for Franklin is the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, and the Tassal factory has a lot of Huon aquaculture farms down the channel and down the Huon River. Oh, the irony of it! That minister is going to be in here voting in favour of this, even though it is actually hastening the demise of the industry by the trashing of the industry's reputation.

I struggled to get my head around this. For one seat—which, by the way, Labor has almost no chance of winning, so the whole exercise becomes even more ludicrous—they're taking a species closer to the edge of extinction. They are annoying the majority of Tasmanians who want fish farms kicked out of Macquarie Harbour, all to chase some votes that ultimately won't see them win the seat anyway. It's just bizarre behaviour. It's just crazy behaviour. It's inexplicable, but that's what raw politics is like. To echo my colleagues behind me, it helps to explain why the primary vote of the major parties is collapsing and why, at this federal election, again, a third or more of the country will vote for someone else. They will vote for people who will fight for the environment, fight for the public interest, fight for their communities, fight for rational policies to grow industries, not to kill them.

I hold out some hope that the opposition will oppose this bill, probably for their own self-serving interests by trying to trip up the Labor Party before the election. But I don't care what their motivation is. I just hope they oppose it and vote against it.

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