“Marinus Link a lemon of a project. It’s the next iteration of debt ridden bankrupt Basslink. Marinus is not about addressing the climate, it’s a political project for big infrastructure and overseas investors that will leave Tasmanians servicing debt for decades,” said Christine Milne, Bob Brown Foundation patron.
“Climate and biodiversity are two sides of the coin. Marinus will drive more Tasmanian threatened species toward extinction and it is notable that in the fast-tracking of this project not a word is being said about environmental impacts from a government that says it has a zero extinctions policy,” said Christine Milne.
“My whole political career the backdrop has always been we cannot afford to address serious issues like health and education because of the Hydro debt, now the Liberals are plunging Tasmania into such debt that household electricity bills will soar but worse still Marinus is taking away from Tasmanians our own capacity to decide our own future.
How can we electrify Tasmania’s transport system, agricultural industries and bring down power bills if all our energy assets are geared up to profit overseas investors and people on the mainland? 6% of the benefit and 80% of the cost is a terrible deal for Tasmania. It is the next version of failed ‘build it and they will come strategy’,” said Christine Milne.
“Having Tasmanian taxpayers subsidise the multi-billion dollar Marinus project with no benefits for Tasmanians but to line the pockets of multinational energy corporations will put a millstone around every Tasmanian’s neck”, Bob Brown said today.
“However, the environmental costs are incalculable. This project facilitates windfarms with 200 metres-high towers smashing the scenic amenity of places like the Central Plateau along the Lake Highway and directly threatening the facial tumour-safe Tasmanian devil population on Robbins Island as well as a brace of shorebirds and corridors of rainforest and farmland,” said Bob Brown.