Dr Rosalie Woodruff MP | Greens Environment and Biodiversity spokesperson
The Rockliff Liberals must get on with producing a Tasmanian State of the Environment (SOE) report. The Deputy Premier’s comments, saying he intends to delay this legally required work by yet another unnecessary review, are concerning.
The Tasmanian Planning Commission is guilty of not doing the SOE assessment – but it’s been effectively hog-tied by the Liberals’ failure to provide the necessary information, or to resource this demanding, important body of work.
The State of the Environment report is a statutory obligation, and the government already conducted a review into this matter in 2020. In a climate and biodiversity crisis, we need action not more delays and roadblocks.
It’s clear the Liberal government has been breaking the law so they don’t have to justify their anti-environment policies, and they appear happy to continue doing so.
The multiple agency failures to deliver a report for 13 years are a deliberate tactic to hide the evidence of the impact of Liberal policies on the health of Tasmania’s environment. With obvious government threats to climate and biodiversity, this is scandalous.
The Liberals clearly don’t want to report on the state of Tasmania’s environment – if they did they’d have to pull their heads out of the sand and change course. They’d be confronted with the evidence that they’re trashing the place.
Given Environment Minister, Roger Jaensch’s reputation for doing nothing, it’s not surprising he hasn’t demanded action.
Instead of fulfilling their legally required obligation, Minister Jaensch and his colleagues have used the silence about the state of Tasmania’s environment to push ahead with destructive policies, and hide the evidence of species and habitat decline.
Not only are their policies a crime against nature, they’re breaking the law to cover it up. Let’s not waste more time on getting a State of the Environment report – our island’s biodiversity needs are urgent.