Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young waved a dead salmon wrapped in plastic during a Senate debate on Wednesday, intensifying the party's opposition to legislation supporting Tasmania's salmon farming industry. According to SBS News, the protest followed the passage of a bill in the House of Representatives that ensures the continuation of salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour despite its environmental impact on the endangered Maugean skate.
The federal government, with Labor and Opposition support, introduced reforms to the Environmental Protection Biodiversity Conservation Act on Tuesday. These changes, endorsed by the Labor caucus on Monday, remove the environment minister's power to revoke certain past decisions, aiming to safeguard the salmon industry on Tasmania's west coast. SBS News reported that intensive fish farming in Macquarie Harbour has caused oxygen levels to drop, threatening the species unique to the area and linked to the dinosaur age.
During the Senate session, Hanson-Young accused the government of having "stitched up" a deal with the Opposition to "gut out environmental laws ... all in the name of a toxic, polluting salmon industry." She questioned Labor senator Jenny McAllister, asking, "What toxic industry ... would get the next carve out." McAllister responded that public debate on environmental laws is "very difficult when every contribution to the debate from a party that claims to care about environmental outcomes and progress is underwritten by mistruths, misstatements and exaggerations."
Watch: Sarah Hanson-Young held up a dead salmon in the chamber.
"The Australia Institute have condemned these laws. Have you sold out your environment credentials for a rotten extinction salmon?"
Our research shows 7 in 10 Tasmanians want salmon farms OUT of inshore waters. pic.twitter.com/Eooimg5HzR
— Australia Institute (@TheAusInstitute) March 26, 2025
Hanson-Young then escalated her protest, declaring, "On the eve of an election, have you sold out your environmental credentials for a rotten, stinking extinction salmon," before revealing the dead fish. Senate president Sue Lines immediately ordered its removal, while McAllister remarked, "Australians deserve better from their public representatives than stunts." The Greens' opposition aligns with environmental advocates who highlight the ecological risks to the Maugean skate.
Elsewhere in parliament, Tasmanian Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson confronted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during an impromptu protest, shouting "Not good enough, pushing a species to the brink of extinction under the cover of a budget," as Albanese conducted interviews in the courtyard. Whish-Wilson later told SBS News, "The last thing the prime minister does at the end of this parliament is to sign the death warrant for a species," calling it "the lowest point for me in my 14 years in the place."
Labor defended the bill, citing its importance to the salmon industry, which employs about 120 people full-time, per Salmon Tasmania figures reported by SBS News. The government has also allocated $28 million for oxygenation efforts, a captive breeding program, and population monitoring in Macquarie Harbour. While the breeding program shows progress, Whish-Wilson argues it fails to replicate the skate's wild habitat, a concern echoed in University of Tasmania research indicating skate levels remain below pre-2009 numbers.
