The Rockliff Government promised to release their response to the State of the Environment Report and the MaxGaming Report before Christmas. With just days to business standstill, the Liberals look to be kicking these important documents into the holiday season to duck public scrutiny. As well as treating Tasmanians with contempt, it smacks of having something to hide.
The Liberals only released the State of the Environment Report after the Greens used Parliament to order them to make it public, over three months ago. A decade overdue, the SOE report confirms what Tasmanians are seeing for themselves – our environment is in a sick state.
The survival of functioning forests and marine communities, water quality, agricultural production, climate impacts are all measured in the SOE report. With nearly two thirds of environmental measures in decline or poor, it’s imperative the Liberal Government finally acts with the urgency needed to protect Tasmania’s environment.
Changes to government policy and new resourcing will be needed to turn around a decade of Liberal neglect and their active destruction of nature. The Rockliff Government has had more than enough time to develop a response – it needs to release this important response immediately.
The Liberals used the MaxGaming report to justify their pokies pre-commitment card backflip last month. This backflip was a significant betrayal of the most vulnerable Tasmanians at the behest of the pokies industry, and it’s imperative the Liberals release the report they’ve used as justification.
The Liberals don’t have a track record for transparency with Tasmanians. The Rockliff Government must release their response to the State of the Environment Report and the MaxGaming report now.
