As a scientist, with over 35 years’ experience in water quality management, I am very concerned about the expansion of salmon aquaculture in Storm Bay for the reasons outlined below.

The Arm End golf course at Opossum Bay was first approved by Clarence City Council in March 2013 and the lease was issued by Parks and Wildlife Service in December 2014. 

The Gellibrand Nature Recreation Area, known locally as the Arm End Reserve is a 116-hectare reserve and forms the northern most tip of the South Arm Peninsula on the eastern shore of Hobart.

I last put out my rubbish bin in October 2011. Yes, seven years and I have not put the rubbish out once at home.

In October 2011 a friend of mine, Robyn McNicol, did a marine plastic pollution art project with Taroona High School called ‘Plastic Swirl’ that aimed to increase awareness of plastic pollution in the ocean. It affected me so much that I wanted to see if I could stop producing plastic and other waste.

There is a long list of controversial developments on public land where the Clarence City Council has treated the community terribly. The Council is acting as a property developer and pushing a development agenda on Council and State government land while failing to consult the most important people, the rate-payers.

The city of Hobart has been progressively investigating new height limits for Sullivans Cove and the CBD. The drafting process is now complete and the proposed maximum height limits are out for public comment until 17 October 2018.

Recent government modelling predicts that 32% of east coast rocky reefs that are vital to the recreational fishery will be lost to urchin barrens by 2021. Both abalone and rock lobster fisheries will be eliminated from these areas while the Tasmanian government fails to take any effective action.

For more than 100 years this project has reared its ugly head. It has been defeated every time, more or less always for the same reasons:

• A lack of strong business case.

• A lack of local support and interest.

• The land is publicly owned, and inevitably the developer wants the people to make a gift of the publicly owned land.

On 1 January 2018 China’s National Sword Policy came into effect, reducing acceptable contamination levels for 24 types of recyclable materials to between 0.5% and 1.0% (down from 5%). For Australia, the biggest impact will be on paper, cardboard and plastics. There is likely to be little impact on recycling of metals because Australia exports most of its recyclable metals to countries other than China.

The State Government’s changes to planning legislation have sown the seeds for over-development in Tasmania’s iconic cities, coastal hideaways, heritage towns and wilderness areas, whilst creating opaque processes that empower the Planning Minister and strip the community’s rights. They have plans for more draconian changes.