Ms ROSOL (Bass) – Honourable Deputy Speaker, what an enlightening debate this has been. It has been very disappointing to hear the government’s response on this and to hear their dismissive arguments towards us. The Greens have raised a very critically important issue this morning, the marine environment, and that has been battered away and there has been ad hominem arguments where we have been attacked rather than a mature discussion of what is actually a critical situation for us in Tasmania, but we also know that marine environments are under threat globally.
We have heard a number of people this morning outline how important our marine environment is to us culturally in Tasmania. I wanted to mention some of the cultural events, one particular cultural event happening in Bass soon that is reliant on a healthy marine environment. That is the Bridport Scallop Fiesta, an economically important event and a culturally important event in our state, and just one example of the benefits that a healthy marine environment brings for us. We know that we are not looking at a healthy marine environment at the moment.
Earlier this year, I met with a 94‑year‑old fisher from Beauty Point and he outlined for me the changes that he has witnessed in his fishing experiences in the Tamar and along the north coast of Tasmania. He described multiple species of fish that are no longer able to be catched [technically correct specifically for fishing, like hanged, but old-fashioned]. He also described species of fish coming down into this environment that have never been here before but because of the warming waters are now here.
We know that our kelp forests on the east coast of Tasmania are disappearing due to climate change. We know that there are invasive species moving into our waters. We have seen the signs of marine health decline for many, many years. What we have now is an alarm bell ringing. We have been able to ignore it and look away and just keep doing well because we are all enjoying things and enjoying the fish from the ocean, but now we are looking at an absolute crisis.
All the things that we have talked about this morning we are seeing here with the toxic algal bloom that is happening at the moment – this has not happened out of nowhere. This has been developing for some time and the government have been asleep at the wheel. They have allowed this to happen and they have not taken action to protect our waterways. What we are looking at is a crisis.
Despite that, they are wanting to ignore this. They are putting out quiet little warnings, but not taking the action that is needed, not giving this the urgency and the attention that it requires. This is not good enough on the part of the government. We rely on our oceans. We rely on them for health. The health of our whole Earth relies on healthy oceans and we are just dismissing that and flicking it away as if it does not matter. It has to improve.
Time expired.
