By Enyichukwu Enemanna
An Australian senator on Wednesday shocked her colleagues during plenary when she pulled out a dead fish to emphasise her opposition to proposed laws aimed at safeguarding controversial salmon fish farms in a heritage-listed inlet in Tasmania.
Criticising the bill during parliamentary question time, Green Party senator Sarah Hanson-Young accused the government of “gutting” environmental protections to support what she called a “toxic, polluting salmon industry”.
The bill, currently being debated in the Senate, is expected to pass in the final days of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government ahead of a general election in May.
Hanson-Young produced a whole dead salmon in a plastic bag while asking Labour senator Jenny McAllister, representing the Environment Minister: “On the eve of the election, have you sold out your environmental credentials for a rotten, stinking extinction salmon?”
After some commotion and a request from Senate President Sue Lines to remove “the prop”, McAllister responded: “My view is Australians deserve better from their public representatives than stunts.”
The proposed laws would guarantee salmon farming in the world-heritage-listed Macquarie Harbour on Tasmania’s west coast and reduce the public’s ability to challenge approvals.
Albanese’s Labour Party has argued that the bill is necessary to protect jobs in Tasmania’s salmon farming industry.
Environmental groups and the Green Party have raised concerns about the nutrient and chemical pollution caused by the industry and its effects on marine wildlife, including the rare Maugean skate, found only in the Macquarie and Bathurst Harbours in Tasmania.
