The Coalition has vowed to scrap federal funding for the Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) if elected, pointing to the group’s legal action against Tasmania’s salmon industry as a prime example of what it calls “anti-jobs operations”.
Standing alongside Michael Bailey from the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Liberal Senator Jonno Duniam announced the Coalition would cut the EDO’s $2.5 million in annual taxpayer funding.
“We’ve seen how devastating this organisation is for jobs and for businesses right across this country, ranging from what they’ve done here to the salmon industry in Tasmania, with their vexatious claim about Macquarie Harbour salmon farming,” he said.
Duniam said the EDO had operated without Commonwealth funding between 2013 and 2022 under the previous Coalition government.
“Last time we were in government we cut funding to them because it was the right thing to do for jobs and for our economy,” he said.
“There are enough dollars flowing in from people that want to support the EDO to keep them afloat.”
Bailey backed the move, claiming the EDO was set up to “delay projects to death” and accusing the organisation of trying to “stop employment” and “stop economies” like Tasmania’s.
“The fact that they’re funded by a federal government is extraordinary,” he said. “This is a good policy, one that will protect jobs across Australia.”
The announcement follows legal challenges brought by the EDO against the salmon industry, which the Coalition argues has created uncertainty for regional employment.
“We want Australian industries to be able to stand up and be able to produce and operate in an environment of certainty, not uncertainty,” Duniam said.
“But when you’ve got green lawfare, when you’ve got vexatious claims being brought by activist groups every day of the week, then we should be doing the right thing by people who want to provide jobs – doing things by the law and doing things with the world’s best science behind them.”
