In June 2024, Environment Tasmania asked The Tasmanian Planning Commission to release correspondence between the State Government and The Commission where it concerned the State of the Environment Report 2024. The Commission is obligated to provide this information under the Right to Information Act (2009) unless it can provide an exemption. The Commission has since refused to provide this information, citing a lack of time and resources as justification.
The Commission’s decision was predictable and further deepens concerns relating to the State of the Environment Report 2024 (the report). It has become clear that the State Government has inadequately resourced The Commission to produce the report. The Commission admitted that it only has one full-time employee working on the report. What remains unclear, is the level of involvement the State Government has had in the design and wording of the report.
This year, Tasmania is due to receive its first State of the Environment Report since 2009 and it will be the first report under the Liberal Government since it came into power in 2014. The report should provide Tasmanians with a thorough update on the health of the state’s environment and recommend management actions to address any declines. It will also lay bare the impact of the Liberal Government’s environmental decision-making over the past decade.
It is therefore imperative that the report is shaped independently from Government control. A truly independent report can then be used to hold the Government and its decisions to account. Having been denied access to correspondence between the State Government and The Commission, between 01/01/23 and 24/06/24, we remain in the dark over how much direction The Commission received from the State Government in preparing the report.
Environment Tasmania welcomes the State of the Environment Report 2024 and hopes the report provides a comprehensive, unaltered snapshot of the health of Tasmania’s environment.
“This government is responsible for the current state of the environment. The last thing it wants is a report to be published that exposes statewide environmental declines. I expect a tactical release of the 2024 report, to minimise criticism, but I fear the government’s involvement in the report’s framing goes well beyond that. This recent refusal, to provide key information, has only deepened that concern,” said James Overington, executive officer, Environment Tasmania.
"Without this information, the Government's involvement in the production of this report remains murky. It controls the funding and some of the data included in the report. We are striving to determine where its control ends,” added Mr Overington.