Overview

• The government will retract finfish permits on leases without existing marine farming licences during the moratorium on new salmon pens.
• Parliament will set terms of reference for the off-island specialist review to examine environmental standards, monitoring, regulation, antibiotic usage, compliance and potential new legislation.
• The Liberals also pledged to introduce a Marine Environment Act and boost EPA resources to strengthen transparency and regulatory oversight of the aquaculture sector.
• Premier Jeremy Rockliff framed the moves as necessary to reassure crossbench MPs ahead of a looming no-confidence vote in the hung state parliament.
• Industry bodies decried a broken pre-election promise and warned of worker and investor uncertainty, while environmental advocates offered cautious support or dismissed the pause as mere political theatre.