Tasmania has a complicated relationship with its natural beauty. Australia’s smallest state is marketed for its “clean and green” environment and produce, and the government runs tourism campaigns with the tagline “come down for air” that lean heavily on its stunning landscapes, coastlines and wildlife.

But it also has a reputation for backing environmentally damaging industries that grab national, and sometimes international, attention:

As somone who lives in Tassie, the state is a shitshow of environmental degredation. So this next bit of the article is not surprising

It says something about the debate that this even needs saying, but: environment laws should protect the environment.

On Saturday, the Tasmanian Labor leader, Dean Winter, rolled out the line out as he launched an equally remarkable policy before the state election on 19 July: that the state’s industries should not have to answer to Australia’s environment laws.

A 2021 five-yearly state of the environment report found that wasn’t happening – that nature was in poor and deteriorating health, in part because forest and other vegetation has continued to be knocked down without proper oversight.