“He is going ‘far beyond the Liberals’.”

Labor’s Dean Winter will gut already-weak environmental laws protecting Tasmania if Labor forms the next state government with crossbench support, Bob Brown Foundation said today.

“Winter has revealed he wants to abolish laws protecting Tasmania’s endangered birds and animals from unnecessary projects like MMG’s acid waste dump in the Takayna rainforest, the Robbins Island wind farm, and the continuing salmon cage impacts in Macquarie Harbour. To do this, he will work with a willing Albanese Labor government in Canberra to get national environment laws removed where they relate to Tasmania,” Bob Brown said.

“Winter will go far beyond the Liberals in handing Tasmania’s natural environment to foreign multinationals like China’s MMG, Brazil’s (JBS) Huon Aquaculture and the Philippines’ Ayala group wanting its mega wind farm on Robbins Island.”

“He even plans to get rid of contentious ‘offsets’ whereby companies wanting to destroy the habitat of a threatened species need to show that they will protect another similar habitat. Winter indicates that all a corporation will have to do is point to a national park that has the same species in it. So, MMG would be able to put its acid waste dump in the Takayna rainforest, destroying the nesting sites of Tasmania’s giant Masked Owls if it can be shown the owls are also at Cradle Mountain. This is a plan for accelerated extinction in Tasmania in this age of the worst extinction rates worldwide for millions of years.”

“Winter’s Labor will back the big end of town and foreign billionaires to destroy Tasmania’s global reputation as an island proud of its natural beauty and environmental wellbeing,” Brown said.

Meanwhile, Tasmanians Sandra Van Den Berg and Eleanor Kuylaars, two people arrested last week for defending ancient forests from logging were given harsh and excessive bail conditions by police that imposed strict conditions for over three months, with a nightly curfew from 10 pm to 6 am. Van den Berg will challenge the bail conditions today in court.

“Winter’s Labor and Rockliff’s Liberals corporate bosses are getting free access to destroy the forests while the citizens face home detention before they have even been to court for standing up for forest protection,” Jenny Weber, Bob Brown Foundation’s Campaigns Manager said.