From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey. It's Monday, December two. Jim Chalmers has raised taxes by forty four billion dollars and added one hundred and four billion in spending to the federal budget. That's the stark analysis from economist Chris Richardson. It's an exclusive live now at the Australian dot com. Doreu in the cold waters of Tasmania's West Coast leaves a little endangered fish that's
causing a big drama for the local salmon farmers. They Fair Environment Minister Tania Plibisek will seek to kill off salmon farming to save the Morgan skate and it's playing into a high stakes tussle between Plibisek and the Prime Minister. Today be intriguing battle between Anthony Alberonizi and Tania Plibisek. They should be the closest of allies, both warriors of the Labor Left representing Inner Sydney where Labour's greatest foe
is not the Conservatives but the Greens. Once Anthony Alberzi and Tannia plibset gave every appearance of being good friends, but that's over. The first time this registered on the national consciousness was after the twenty twenty two election, when Plibast missed out on becoming Minister for the two portfolios she'd spent years stamping with her name, Education and Women. Instead, Alberzi made her Minister for the Environment and Water.
There was no reason whatsoever other than cure politics to appoint miss pliversek and in a city Sydney residing MP as having courage for the Murray Darling Basin to have to handle really tricky gas coal and other mining projects for an inner city MP who's always been under threat from the grains.
Jeff Chambers is the Australian's chief political correspondent.
As always in politics, there are old scores to settle, and you always want to ensure that your direct rivals, in their case in the same faction but from different camps, isn't given a portfolio that might elevate them, And in this case she was given a portfolio that would really blog down her time because she had to get her head around things and politically would make things difficult for her.
Albanesi and Plibisec had been on different sides in the tussle between Kevin Rudd and Julia Guillard. They both served as senior ministers, but Albanzi was a rud loyalist and Plibisick was closer to Guillard. In twenty nineteen, Plibisek stood back when Alberizi wanted the leadership, allowing him to be elected opposed. When announcing Plybosex for the environment job, Albanezi said tackling the Murraydaling basin and protecting the environment needed
a strong decision maker. Tell you someone who can get things done. As soon as she stepped into the job, plibisk began leading the charge on something called nature positive reforms. Nature positive basically means using the tools of the government like regulation and watchdogs to try to stop the extinction
of species and the destruction of wild places. Plybosx's plan was big to create a new watchdog called the Environment Protection Authority and new environment standards benchmarks to help the EPA decide where the projects could go ahead.
When these laws pass, it will be the first time any government has defined nature positive in legislation. We've defined it and I quote as an improvement in the diversity, abundance, resilience and integrity of ecosystems from a baseline, but.
The government doesn't control the Senate, so every piece of legislation is a tussle with the Greens and the crossbenches to get anything done That left liversex nature positive laws in a tough situation. The Coalition felt they were dangerous for mining and resources projects, and the Greens felt they
didn't go far enough. First, the government through the new Environment Standards Overboard and then flubsec plowed on with negotiations with the Greens and Crossbench, but at the last minute Albanesi decided it was all too hard and dumped the legislation altogether.
There was just too much in what the Greens were
demanding in return for their support at it. From an electoral perspective, it was too dangerous for Anthony Alberaneasy when you're looking at big mining states like Western Australia and Queensland, and the WA premier himself, Roger Cook, had been very both publicly and privately opposed to nature Positive and you can see the timelines there as to when Anthony Albanezi stepped in right the last second, with so many other bits of legislation, probably thought he might get away with it,
but he clearly has not, and that now, I guess, shines a light on all interactions that he will have with Taniel Plibasic heading to the election.
Coming up after the break. Now Fliberzek faces a new battle over the Tasmanian salmon we'd all like to be eating this Christmas that's after the break on the west coast of Tasmania is a feud that looks straight out of a Norwegian fairy tale. There are snow capped mountains and forested shores and a thriving salmon farming industry. It's been controversial for a while, with activists saying the giant salmon farm cause pollution and to drain oxygen from the water,
risking other species like the endangered Morgan skate. That's a fish that looks a bit like a ray, with a triangular body and a diet of little crabs which it hoovers off the seafloor. The more Gan skate only lives in a few places, and Macquarie Harbor is one of them. Plibik has said there's estimated to be only forty to one hundred and twenty adult skates living in the harbor. But the salmon farmers fear this little fish will be used by Plibisek to kill off their jobs.
I was having a chat to the local mayor there, Shane Pitt, today, and they've got real concerns about the future of the local school workers. There's so much uncertainty there. But if they leave the area, then that small little school might have to shut down. There's workers there who are saying, look, we're holding off buying homes. We'd like to buy a home here, but if something happens to
the industry, we can't commit to this area. A lot of industry and political people down and Tasmania are telling me that if Anthony Alberanzi can't get this right, that this could be his Mark Latham moment. As we all know in two thousand and four election, the way he handled the forestry issue. John Howard just ruthlessly went in there and swept the seats up there in northern Tazzi.
Very senior members of the left, including Anthony Aberaneesi himself, Katie Gallagher and others have been talking directly with the Tasmanian salmon fisheries and that's not normal. That's usually something that the minister would do if that's their domain. But everyone understands that this next election could be very tight and for Peter Dunton, he's hoping to win both Bradon and Bass up there in northern Tasmania and also pick up lines which would be a massive result for him.
I think this has been a known problem for Anthony Albanesi for some months now. There's been delegations here in Canberra. As I said, he's visited there a couple of times and my understanding is he will be back there early in the new year, in January. That's what I've heard, and I guess it will come down to how does
he get around the legal side of things. They want to be able to announce something which would be legally sound and wouldn't see some ugly federal court fight with environmentalists down in Tasmania.
Jeff Chambers is The Australian's chief political correspondent. First Lobsters now avocados are battling to get into the Chinese market. That's an exclusive from our China correspondent, Will Glasgow. Check it out now at the Australian dot com AU