Mr BAYLEY (Clark) – Honourable Speaker, I move –
That the House takes note of the following matter: State of the Environment
I rise today to talk about a matter of public importance: the State of the Environment report. We are doing this today because yesterday was indeed a milestone day, a red‑letter day in the last decade or so of Tasmania’s governance of the environment. The State of the Environment report is a critical piece of work that was initiated in 1993. It reports on the condition, trend and data reliability of 29 indicators over six theme areas. That is coast and marine; land; biodiversity; rivers and wetlands; air and waste. It is a requirement of the State Policies and Projects Act, which passed through this House in 1993. Hence, that was the first year it was initiated. Section 29 of the act requires that the commission produce a consolidated State of the Environment report every five years. That includes recommendations for future action in relation to the management of the environment; the achievement of resource management objectives; and conditions, trends and changes. History demonstrates that the Liberals have failed to commission and publish a report in line with the act.
This is the first State of the Environment report for 15 years. That is why this is a red‑letter day. I thank the dogged advocates, scientists, community groups and past Greens who have pursued the government and ultimately forced it to commission this report, after many years of cajoling. It was released yesterday, being published early after a successful motion in this House. Thank you to all of those people who took action to force this report and all the people who contributed to developing the report. I also thank those people involved in protecting our precious environment because it is incredibly important: private landowners, Landcare, volunteers and, of course, activists. Activists are consistently flying the flag for environmental protection.
Even with only 24 hours of review and analysis, it is clear why the Liberals were reluctant to commission and release this report. It paints a dire picture of degradation and highlights the fact that it is government policy driving this. It is ignorance, apathy and active decisions that ignore science driving some of the environmental destruction. Worse than that, this government has teamed up with the Labor Party to pass draconian anti‑protest laws that punish people who stand up and fight for the protection of the environment.
Some of the highlights of the report – or the low lights – are that of the 29 indicators, 55 per cent are deteriorating, 21 per cent are stable, 7 per cent are improving and 17 per cent are unknown. It is a shocking indictment on a decade of Liberal policy and funding priorities.
The report makes 16 recommendations, including: to develop a long‑term vision and strategy for Tasmania’s environment; to explore opportunities to collaborate with the Aboriginal community; to establish more marine protected areas; to remove protections for wild fallow deer from regulatory frameworks and to implement a strategy to control feral cats; and to invest in and expand the terrestrial reserve estate, new national parks and reserves. There are more recommendations but I highlight those.
The report is going to be a challenge for the government to read and respond to, but respond it must, because the pressures are increasing. There is climate change, there are pests and weeds and there are the human and industrial impacts that we, ourselves, are causing.
On that, I highlight that forestry is listed as a pressure in eight of the 29 indicators. That includes soil stability, land use intensification, native vegetation fragmentation, threatened fauna, terrestrial native birds, water quality, riparian zones and particulate matter. For all the debate in here where people accuse us of unfairly targeting the forest industry, it is fairly and squarely identified in this report as being a problem.
The consequences of not acting are dire. Environmental health will degrade, the community will get frustrated, and business and brand will be damaged. I will conclude with a quote from the report:
Tasmanians look to their political and community leaders to ensure the environment is properly cared for, and that the social and economic needs of current and future generations of Tasmanians are met.
…
As a starting point, taking actions on the recommendations of this 2024 SoE report will position Tasmania to rise to the significant challenges identified.
It is disappointing to already hear the Premier rule out one of those recommendations, which is to increase the terrestrial reserve network. If the government, all the way up to the Premier, cannot accept and implement these reports, our environment will continue to go downhill.
Time expired.
