Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

WHISH-WILSON () (): My question is to Senator Wong, Minister representing the Minister for the Environment and Water. Last year your government announced its commitment to a zero extinctions target for Australian native flora and fauna. During this announcement, Minister Plibersek proclaimed, 'I will not shy away from difficult problems or accept environmental decline and extinction as inevitable.' Minister, the ancient endangered maugean skate has been with us since the dinosaurs. It is found only in Macquarie Harbour, on the west coast of Tasmania, but has seen a 47 per cent decline in its tiny population between 2014 and 2021, since the expansion of industrial salmon farming in the harbour. Scientists researching the skate tell us it is possibly one extreme weather event away from extinction. Given the El Niño forecasts for marine heatwaves in the coming months in Tasmania, what is your government doing to immediately safeguard the skate from an extinction event this summer?