Dr WOODRUFF question to PREMIER, Mr ROCKLIFF
We are in the largest ever mass salmon mortality, which is in no way over. Over the baking long weekend, locals flocked to southern Huon and Channel beaches to swim, but the sparkling water was murky and filled with salmon fat and oil. No one was swimming and no kids were building sandcastles. This is the reality of the salmon industry: stinking, lifeless waters, diseased, rotting fish, animal cruelty and thousands of tonnes of dead fish being dumped, some of it illegally.
Last week in parliament, you claimed big salmon was on notice. Tough talk. It is the government’s job to regulate the salmon industry, so it is you, Premier, who is on notice. What are you going to do to clean up the salmon mess? Are you still backing the big salmon corporates who are trashing our beaches and waterways?
The SPEAKER – Before calling the Premier, can everybody just take this time to check that your phones are on silent or off please?
ANSWER
Honourable Speaker, I thank the member for her question. I also thank the member for Braddon, Mr Garland, for raising this issue ahead of the Greens last week, in a very sensible way. We acknowledge the community concerns about this matter. The community are concerned. We also acknowledge the very challenging situation that the companies themselves face. I want to personalise that by the many hundreds of workers who are feeling the effects of this and the distress of the mortality and the endemic Piscirickettsia of which is the cause, as I understand it, or largely due to the salmon mortality event.
We have an independent regulatory authority and implied in your question, we want to ensure that the regulators have everything and all the information at their disposal to ensure that they can do their job and regulate the industry. That is why we set up that independent EPA (Environment Protection Authority) to govern the regulations of the salmon industry, which was a very sensible thing to do. The opportunity presented itself between 2010 and 2014 to set up a robust regulatory regime of the salmon industry and unfortunately, the Greens did not manage to do that. It took a Liberal government to really bring the independence of the EPA to the fore in these critical issues.
From an environmental perspective, the critical issue is the timely collection and management of fish residue in an approved manner, of which you referred to in your question, Dr Woodruff. These incidents, I am advised, are typically elevated during the warmer summer months, as you would appreciate, when warmer waters and other factors affecting salmon health are more likely to occur. Reports over recent months suggest widespread availability of nutrients along the east and south-east coast of Tasmania brought in by the east Australian current. I outlined some of these matters last week. Some algae, jellyfish and other marine organisms are a known irritant of salmon gills and may lead to increased mortality as well, I am advised.
The marine heat wave conditions have occurred in waters immediately east of Tasmania over the past few months and contribute to an inter-annual variability of Storm Bay in particular. We are proudly a supporter of the industry for the product that is in –
The SPEAKER – The Premier’s time for answering the question has expired.
SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION
Dr WOODRUFF – A supplementary question, Speaker?
The SPEAKER – I will hear the supplementary question.
Dr WOODRUFF – The Premier did not identify a single new action that he was going to take to clean up this disaster. His response made it sound as though he thinks this is a normal summer event. Can you, Premier, tell us and the communities, what actions you will take to change the way salmon industries are being regulated in Tasmania and this mess is being fixed up?
The SPEAKER – The Premier seems to be happy to answer that question, but I was going to suggest that it probably is a new question. Your question originally was ‘What will you do to clean up the mess?’ and the Premier has identified that the EPA has that role. I will take a further question from you on this matter if you would like, but I do not think the supplementary applies.
Dr WOODRUFF – Thank you, Speaker. It was about what he was going to do to clean up the mess. The EPA has been there for 10 years –
The SPEAKER – I wrote the question down, Leader of the Greens, as you asked it. I am in a difficult position in the way that supplementary questions are run in this Chamber, in that I have to make determinations on whether I think the question was answered. I do believe that the question was answered, maybe not the way you wanted it to be, but I am sure that you do have an opportunity for three more questions today.
