00:00On the floor of the Senate, political debate takes an unexpected turn.
00:07Have you sold out your environment credentials for a rotten, stinking, extinction salmon?
00:18The shock tactics coming after another Green Senator heckled the Prime Minister during
00:22a post-budget media call.
00:24Pushing the species to the brink of extinction underneath the cover of a budget.
00:29You're a pack of mongrels!
00:31Scientists say salmon farming in Tasmania's Macquarie Harbour is the main threat to the
00:36endangered Morgian skate.
00:38But with recent data showing an improvement in water quality and a stabilisation in skate
00:44numbers, the government is trying to amend environmental laws to prevent a potential
00:49shutdown of the industry.
00:51We're not going to stand by and see workers lose their jobs because of this broken law.
00:56The changes would limit to five years the amount of time certain projects can be legally
01:01challenged, putting an end to Tanya Plibersek's current consideration of whether salmon farming
01:07in Macquarie Harbour can continue at its present scale.
01:11The salmon industry will wear the stain of an extinction, a totally avoidable extinction.
01:16It's bad policy but it is so poorly drafted that it won't even achieve the thing that
01:22it's set out to do.
01:24Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio has weighed into the debate and while the Coalition supports
01:29the changes in principle, it says Labor should have acted much sooner.
01:34The government have been left with no choice but to legislate to work around this minister.
01:39The legislation isn't limited to Macquarie Harbour or the salmon industry, meaning it
01:44could have significant implications for other projects across the country that are accused
01:49of environmental harm.
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