<
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/23/tasmanian-leaders-environment-laws-protect>
"Tasmania has a complicated relationship with its natural beauty. Australia’s
smallest state is marketed for its “clean and green” environment and produce,
and the government runs tourism campaigns with the tagline “come down for air”
that lean heavily on its stunning landscapes, coastlines and wildlife.
But it also has a reputation for backing environmentally damaging industries
that grab national, and sometimes international, attention: hydroelectric dam
expansion, logging of old-growth forests and, most recently, salmon farming.
The response to criticism of these industries often includes a reference to
more than half of the state being protected in either public or private
reserves. It’s a good line, but one that doesn’t survive much scrutiny. The
Tasmanian world heritage wilderness covers about 20% of the state, but
development, logging and mining are allowed in some areas counted as protected.
Where the line is deployed, it is mostly to suggest that nature already gets a
pretty good run and environment protection should be reduced. The Liberal state
government used it to defend a yet-to-be-delivered policy of opening up nearly
40,000 hectares of protected forests for logging – a step that would reduce the
amount of the state that is in protected reserves to less than 50%, and that
even some members of the timber industry say makes little sense.
On Saturday, the Tasmanian Labor leader, Dean Winter, rolled out the line as he
launched an equally remarkable policy before the state election on 19 July:
that the state’s industries should not have to answer to Australia’s
environment laws."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
