Category Archives: Tasmania

Tasmanian police officer shot dead at rural property during court-issued attempt to repossess house

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Officer was attending the property to execute a warrant and was shot as he approached the house, police allege

A “devastated” family is in mourning and an alleged offender is in custody after a senior Tasmanian police officer died in a shooting in the state’s north-west.

The police commissioner, Donna Adams, said officers attended a residential property on Allison Road in North Motton at about 11am on Monday to execute a court-issued warrant to repossess the residence. They alleged the occupant of the home fatally shot a 57-year-old male officer as they approached the front of the house.

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Tasmania to hold early election after governor grants embattled premier Jeremy Rockliff’s request

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Barbara Baker agrees to poll despite ‘public interest in avoiding the cost’ because no possibility of alternative government forming

Tasmania will hold an early election on 19 July – just 16 months after last going to the polls – after the state’s governor agreed to a request from the Liberal premier, Jeremy Rockliff.

The announcement followed a dramatic week in which the parliament narrowly supported a no-confidence motion in Rockliff moved by the Labor leader, Dean Winter, and the state’s three main political parties each argued a fresh election could be avoided.

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Former federal Liberal MP Bridget Archer recruited by Rockliff for snap Tasmania poll

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Bridget Archer lost Bass to Labor at the federal election and is a moderate ally of the premier who suffered a no confidence vote last week

Prominent former federal Liberal MP, Bridget Archer, has announced she will contest a snap Tasmanian election for the embattled state government, amid ongoing political upheaval.

The Liberal premier, Jeremy Rockliff, is expected to call an election on Tuesday – only 15 months after Tasmanians last went to the polls – after the state parliament passed a motion of no confidence in him.

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Confusion and chaos reign in Tasmanian parliament with no endgame in sight

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A vote of no-confidence in Jeremy Rockliff’s government has pushed the state to the brink of an election that all the major players agree is a bad idea

Craig Garland, the fisherman turned maverick independent MP from Tasmania’s north-western corner, summed it up best when he told state parliament on Thursday morning he was “a bit confused”.

Garland wasn’t confused about what he was doing – he calmly backed a no-confidence motion in the Liberal premier, Jeremy Rockliff. But he expressed doubts about how the Tasmanian parliament got here, and what lay ahead.

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Families of children killed in Hillcrest jumping castle incident ‘shattered’ after not guilty verdict

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Rosemary Gamble, owner of Taz-Zorb which set up the equipment in Tasmania, had pleaded not guilty to failing to comply with workplace safety laws

The families of the six children killed in a primary school jumping castle incident are angry after the operator who set up the castle was found not guilty of a workplace safety charge.

Chace Harrison, Jalailah Jayne-Maree Jones, Zane Mellor, Addison Stewart, Jye Sheehan and Peter Dodt died after the incident at Hillcrest primary school in Devonport in December 2021.

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‘World’s largest’ electric ship measuring 130 metres launched by Tasmanian boatbuilder

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Manufacturer Incat built Hull 096 to run between Buenos Aires and Uruguay, dubbing it the ‘most complex’ project it has ever undertaken

An Australian boatbuilder has launched what it describes as the world’s largest battery-power ship, describing it as a “a giant leap forward in sustainable shipping” and the “most important” project it has ever done.

Incat, a manufacturer based in Tasmania, constructed the ship – called Hull 096 – after being contracted by the South American ferry operator Buquebus to build a vessel to run between the Argentinian capital, Buenos Aires, and Uruguay.

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Tasmania’s Dark Mofo is back with a bang – and a car crash: festival announces 2025 program

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After a year off, the often controversial art festival returns, having signed a new three-year funding deal with the state government

A two-hour performance work involving an artist and a stunt driver culminating in a head-on car crash, a man being crushed by sand in a giant hourglass, and an open invitation to scream, are among some of the artworks heading to Tasmania’s Dark Mofo festival, which is back this winter after taking a fallow year.

The annual art festival, created by David Walsh’s Museum of Old and New Art (Mona) and well known for its often controversial, confronting and humorous spirit, was called off last year so organisers could take stock of “changing conditions and rising costs” to ensure its future. Many festivals around Australia have been cancelled in the last two years, including Dark Mofo’s summer equivalent, Mona Foma, which finished in 2024 after 16 years.

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Labor’s grassroots environmental group dismayed by rushed bill protecting salmon industry

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The Labor Environment Action Network says it won’t ‘sugar coat’ its reaction after working ‘so hard’ on obtaining commitment for EPA

Labor’s grassroots environment action network has told its members it does not support legislation that Anthony Albanese rushed through parliament this week to protect salmon farming in Tasmania, describing it as “frustrating and disappointing”.

In an email on Thursday, the Labor Environment Action Network (Lean) said it would not “sugar coat” its reaction to a bill that was introduced to end a formal government reconsideration of whether an expansion of fish farming in Macquarie Harbour, on the state’s west coast, in 2012 was properly approved.

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Controversial bill to protect Tasmanian salmon industry passes despite environmental concerns

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Critics say industry threatens the endangered Maugean skate and laws were rushed through with ’no proper process’

Controversial legislation to protect the Tasmanian salmon industry has passed parliament after the government guillotined debate to bring on a vote in the Senate on Wednesday night.

Government and Coalition senators voted in favour of the bill, which was designed to bring an end to a formal reconsideration by the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, into whether an expansion of fish farming in Macquarie harbour in 2012 was properly approved.

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‘Apoplectic’ environment groups halt Coalition attack ads to take aim at Albanese over species’ ‘death warrant’

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Exclusive: Australia’s top green organisations suspend anti-nuclear power ads to fund campaign against Labor’s move to protect salmon industry

Australia’s leading environment organisations have abruptly suspended advertising campaigns attacking the Coalition’s plan to introduce nuclear power and are instead funding ads accusing Anthony Albanese of signing “the death warrant” of an endangered species.

The shift from criticising the Coalition to Labor on the cusp of an election campaign was agreed by the bosses of green groups – including the Australian Conservation Foundation, Greenpeace, the WWF Australia and the Climate Council – at what campaigners described as an emergency meeting on Saturday.

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Bob Brown urges Greens to punish Labor at election if Albanese amends law to protect salmon farming

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PM’s pledge to protect Tasmanian industry will weaken laws already failing to protect natural sites and at-risk species, environmentalists say

Former Greens leader Bob Brown has urged the minor party not to preference Labor ahead of the Liberal party in Tasmanian seats at the upcoming election if the Albanese government legislates to effectively exempt salmon farming from national environment laws.

Conservationists have sharply criticised Anthony Albanese’s pledge that he will rush through legislation next week to protect the salmon industry in Macquarie Harbour, on the state’s west coast, from the potential results of a long-running legal review.

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Albanese to rush through new laws to protect Tasmania’s salmon industry from legal threat

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Labor will push the contentious bill through parliament next week despite concerns about the extinction of the Maugean skate

Anthony Albanese plans to rush through contentious legislation next week to protect Tasmania’s salmon industry from a legal challenge over the industry’s impact on an endangered fish species.

The future of the salmon industry on the state’s west coast has become a sharp political issue centred on whether it can coexist with the Maugean skate, a ray-like species found only in Macquarie Harbour’s brackish waters.

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Dutton accuses Albanese of ‘ducking and weaving’ as PM at odds with ADF timeline of Chinese live-fire drill notification

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Opposition leader says Albanese ‘failing to answer basic questions’ as PM claims civilian and military notification happened ‘at around the same time’

Anthony Albanese says Australia received civilian and military notifications about Chinese live-fire drills in the Tasman Sea “at around the same time”, despite the chief of the Australian defence force telling Senate estimates the military notification came an hour after the commercial pilot.

The defence chief also revealed Chinese warships south of Hobart appeared likely to sail through the Great Australian Bight, and could be accompanied by an undetected nuclear submarine.

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Anthony Albanese under pressure on salmon farming from both conservationists and industry

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The future of Tasmanian salmon farms has become a political issue centred on whether they can coexist with the endangered Maugean skate

Anthony Albanese is caught in a pincer movement over a pre-election pledge that he will protect salmon farming in Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour, with conservationists and industry leaders both urging him to rethink the commitment.

The future of salmon farming in the harbour on the state’s west coast has become a sharp political issue centred on whether it can coexist with the endangered Maugean skate, an endemic ray-like species that has survived since the age of the dinosaurs.

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Officials to euthanise 90 whales stranded on beach in remote north-western Tasmania

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Attempt to refloat false killer whales was unsuccessful, forcing wildlife authorities to make difficult decision for safety and ‘welfare reasons’

Tasmanian authorities plan to euthanise 90 surviving false killer whales in a group of 157 animals that have stranded on a beach near Arthur River, on the state’s remote north-west coast.

Marine conservation experts including wildlife veterinarians arrived at the site on Wednesday morning, confirming 90 animals were still alive.

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Albanese sparks anger with pledge over controversial salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour

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Prime minister tells Salmon Tasmania of promise to change legislation and allow ‘sustainable’ farming to continue

Anthony Albanese has promised to introduce legislation that will allow “sustainable salmon farming” to continue in Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour, sparking anger from conversationists and researchers who urged for the local industry to be scaled back.

The promise, made in a letter to industry group Salmon Tasmania, came after years of lobbying for action in Macquarie Harbour to save the threatened Maugean skate from extinction.

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Tasmania fires destroy huge swath of wilderness and could ‘burn for weeks’

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Around 90,000 hectares of remote country in the state’s north-west have been razed after fires sparked by lightning strikes

Fires that have razed 90,000 hectares of remote Tasmanian wilderness, including world-heritage listed areas and parts of the famous Overland walking track, could burn for weeks as firefighters battle to contain blazes in remote terrain.

By late on Friday, more than 20 fires – which were sparked by dry lightning strikes on 3 February – had a combined perimeter of about 1,200km in the state’s north-west.

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Hot nights expected in southern Australian states as heatwave sweeps east

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‘Prolonged period of oppressive heat’ could push temperatures to mid 40C in South Australia, and mid 30C in Melbourne and Hobart

A heatwave marked by high humidity and hot nights will hit southern Australia next week as heat that baked western parts of the country moves east.

The period of intense heat for southern and central Australia is forecast to begin from Monday and last until Thursday, with South Australia, southern parts of the Northern Territory and far western parts of Queensland bearing the brunt.

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‘Intensely hot’ weather continues in south-eastern states as Victoria battles bushfires

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Heatwave not expected to end until Tuesday or Wednesday as fires burn in multiple national parks

South-eastern states sweltering in a heatwave may be waiting until late Tuesday or Wednesday for a cool change to bring some relief.

On Monday, temperatures in Melbourne peaked at 37.8C just before 4pm, after a high of 38C on Sunday.

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Baby dead and five injured in horrific house fire in Tasmania

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Firefighters pulled a child and adult from the Rokeby home on Sunday morning but were unable to reach the infant in time

A infant has been killed and four children and an adult injured in a horrific house fire in Tasmania on Sunday morning.

Police and emergency services responded to reports of a fire at Rokeby shortly before 9am.

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