News

Wild moment Anthony Albanese is heckled as protestors disrupt press conference in Tasmania

Anthony Albanese was forced to smile awkwardly after being relentlessly heckled by environmental protesters.

The Prime Minister was drowned out during a press conference in Sorrell, north east of Hobart in Tasmania, on Tuesday morning by demonstrators chanting ‘shame Albanese’ and ‘keep your promise’.

Mr Albanese, who had been unveiling current state MP and former state Opposition leader Rebecca White as the candidate for marginal federal seat of Lyons, at first did not react to or address the handful protesters and instead stared forward in stony silence.

The protesters, who were reportedly from the environmentalist Bob Brown Foundation, chanted ‘Save the Maguean Skate’ over and over as Mr Albanese did his best to ignore them.

But when they got close to the lectern the Prime Minister was forced to address the demonstrators.

‘Good on you,’ he said, as they unfurled an enormous blue banner which said ‘Save the Maugean Skate’.

They then chanted: ‘Keep your promise! No new extinctions!’ as Mr Albanese, Ms White and Agriculture Minister Julie Collins smiled awkwardly.

It was perhaps an odd time to protest given the Prime Minister had just pledged $28million on efforts to improve water quality and environmental conditions at Macquarie Harbour.

It is a major salmon fishing ground and the only known home of the Maugean Skate, the endangered species so close to the protesters’ hearts.

Mr Albanese said Tasmania’s salmon industry was ‘the backbone of many regional communities and it’s essential we support the thousands of jobs it creates right across the state’.

‘To do that it’s essential we have a sustainable industry which supports workers and the environment,’ he said.

‘That’s exactly what this will help to do, making sure we have a sustainable salmon industry and deliver stability for workers and their families into the future.’

He added: ‘I support the jobs that come from economic activity here in Tasmania … but we need to make sure that the industry operates in a sustainable way.’

To help offset harm to Macquarie Harbour’s health from human activities, $21million has been earmarked for scaling up oxygenation in the harbour.

A further $5million has been committed specifically to expanding the Maugean skate’s breeding program.

The ray fish has long been plagued by predators and pollution.

Tasmanian senator Anne Urquhart, who is giving up her safe senate seat for a run at the lower house, said the new efforts ‘will protect the industry and the Maugean Skate’.

But Alistair Allan, Antarctic and Marine campaigner at Bob Brown Foundation, called for government to go a step further by ‘following its own conservation advice by banning fish farming in the Harbour altogether’.

‘We know fish farms have a catastrophic impact on the Maugean Skate,’ he said.

Mr Allan was also critical of Coles supermarket for its alleged ‘complicity in causing the extinction of the Maugean Skate’.

The activist group claims that the supermarket giant’s decision to sell farmed salmon from Macquarie Harbour has a ‘catastrophic impact on the Maugean Skate’s survival’.

‘Coles is completely aware that industrial salmon farms in Macquarie Harbour are causing an extinction, yet they refuse to stop selling the product,’ Mr Allan added.

He added: ‘Selling farmed salmon from Macquarie Harbour is like Coles selling rhino horn or ivory.

‘Coles needs to stop profiting from extinction now.

‘It is outrageous that Prime Minister Albanese will give $28million of taxpayers’ money to cover up the devastating impact of huge multinational companies in Macquarie Harbour who pay zero dollars in taxes.’

Related Posts

Massive change coming to cigarettes in Australia – as government tries to stamp out smoking for good

A health warning will be printed on every cigarette sold in Australia under strict new laws aimed at stamping out smoking. Under the tobacco regulations, warning messages including ‘poison in every puff’, ‘damages your lungs’, ’causes 16 cancers’, ‘shortens your life’ and ‘toxic addiction’ must be printed on every cigarette by April 2025. ‘We will be one of the first countries in the world to include this new public health measure, again seeking to educate but also dissuade smokers from using this deadly product,’ said health minister Mark Butler when he announced the legislation last year.

MARIANNE WILLIAMSON: Democratic Elites destroyed our party… its renewal begins with their repentance

Until the day he died in 1995, if you asked my father who he voted for in any presidential election he said ‘Roosevelt.’ It was gospel in our house that Democrats were the party of the people and Republicans were the economic royalists. That was then, and this is now. The majority of Americans don’t necessarily see it that way anymore.

Passenger plane sprayed with gunfire while landing & 2nd jet shot on take-off in ‘world’s most dangerous city’ in Haiti

HAITI’S international airport was forced to shut down after gangs opened fire at a passenger plane. The Spirit Airlines flight from Florida was struck by bullets as it went to touch down Port-au-Prince’s Toussaint Louverture International Airport. A flight attendant was injured as gangs sprayed the plane – which had come from Fort Lauderdale – with gunfire on Monday.

Kamala Harris gave $500,000 to MSNBC anchor’s nonprofit before network’s fawning interview

Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign delivered $500,000 in donations to Al Sharpton’s non-profit organization, just prior to a glowing interview with the candidate on MSNBC. Harris’s campaign gave two payments of $250,000 to National Action Network on September 5 and October 1, according to campaign finance records first reported by the Washington Free Beacon and confirmed by DailyMail.com. Sharpton publicly backed Harris after Biden endorsed her to succeed him in his reelection campaign. After Sharpton’s organization received donations from Harris, he got a coveted sit-down interview with her just two weeks before the election

Jewish football team ‘chased by knife-wielding pro-Palestine mob’ in Berlin days after horror Amsterdam ‘pogrom’

A JEWISH football team is now under police protection after it was “attacked“ by a knife-wielding pro-Palestinian mob in Berlin. Teens from Makkabi Berlin’s youth team claim they were “hunted down“ by a group of Arab youngsters after a game against local rivals last week. The match was held in Neukölln, a suburb known for its significant Arab and Turkish communities.

Chris Cuomo stuns podcast host Patrick Bet-David by revealing who he voted for

Chris Cuomo admitted he kept his vote in the family on Election Day, writing in his brother Andrew instead of voting for Kamala Harris or Donald Trump. The NewsNation anchor confessed ‘I probably shouldn’t tell you’ but gave in when asked by podcaster Patrick Bet-David. ‘I voted for my brother. I wrote him in. I’ll show you the picture,’ he said, as Bet-David asked credulously over and over again.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *