00:00Over the past year, Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton have paid separate visits to Macquarie
00:08Harbour, promising to protect salmon jobs in the face of a potential shutdown.
00:14And despite noisy protests and stunts in the Senate, contentious changes to national environment
00:24laws passed the parliament last month.
00:27The amendments were designed to end the Environment Minister's assessment of the salmon industry's
00:32impact on the endangered Morgean skate, but it's now been confirmed that those deliberations
00:38are yet to formally conclude and remain active.
00:41So far from clarifying things, from providing certainty that was promised to salmon workers
00:46by Labor, that we, the opposition, were told would be the outcome of passing this legislation,
00:52the uncertainty remains.
00:54The details emerged after JLN Senate candidate Rex Patrick submitted a Freedom of Information
00:59request for a departmental briefing given to Tanya Plibersek earlier this year.
01:05The FOI request was rejected on the grounds that the decision making process is still current
01:11and subject to ongoing deliberative processes.
01:14The Minister should keep assessing it and do her job and get salmon farms out of Macquarie
01:19Harbour to give the Morgean skate a fighting chance of survival.
01:23But Labor insists the salmon industry has nothing to fear, suggesting its plan to end the assessment
01:29has simply been paused during caretaker mode.
01:32What we know is that legislation only passed just prior to the federal election being called,
01:38and we will be adhering to the law.
01:40A law change that hasn't yet been actioned.
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