Dear Australians, we need your help! Tasmania's natural beauty and economic future are under threat from the largest, and arguably the worst, proposed project in Tasmania's history – Marinus Link. If built, this undersea energy cable connecting Tasmania with the mainland will destroy the island state's economy and its environment.

With a current price tag of over $6.5 billion (stages 1 and 2 combined, including the NWTD), Project Marinus is simply unaffordable for Tasmania's small population and economy. It will impose a crushing debt burden on current and future generations of Tasmanians, leaving little with which to pay for essential services such as healthcare, education, and housing, all of which are already at breaking point. Additionally, because of Marinus, "Tasmanian electricity consumers face a massive increase in electricity prices", according to energy expert John Devereaux. "Marinus Link (stage 1 alone) will see a dramatic increase in Tasmanian electricity transmission charges of over $150 million per year, to be borne by all Tasmanian electricity consumers, including Major Industrials (MIs), and the wholesale cost of electricity will also increase by between 6% and 59% (from the government commissioned Deloitte study) contrary to statements made by the Tasmanian Government."

 

Energy economist Professor Bruce Mountain, Director of the Victoria Energy Policy Centre at Victoria University, has said, "There is simply no prospect at all that adding the cost of Marinus Link will be profitable. It's frustrating for us as economists that the Tasmanian government and the Federal government continue to proceed with this. It will almost certainly be an enormous deadweight loss around both Victorians and Tasmanians and as a consequence will leave Tasmanians much poorer for it for a very long period of time."

 

But the harms arising from Marinus Link go far beyond poverty for ordinary Tasmanians. Without exaggeration, this project threatens to devastate Tasmania's environment, its way of life, and even its identity. The government has repeatedly said that Marinus will "unlock" (i.e. create incentives for) major renewable energy development in Tasmania. The scale of this proposed development is so massive that it can only be described as exploitation. AEMO's map shows roughly two-thirds of Tasmania – in the Northeast, Northwest, and Central Highlands – covered by Renewable Energy Zones. Wind farms, transmission lines, and other energy infrastructure are being proposed in the most inappropriate places. These include environmentally sensitive locations such as Robbins Island (a haven for critically endangered species), as well as on prime agricultural land, and near towns as large as George Town.

To industrialise so much of the state with renewable energy infrastructure will transform Tasmania greatly for the worse. People choose to visit and live on the "Apple Isle" because of its nature. If that is taken away, what will be left? Tasmania represents less than one percent of Australia's total land mass. Yet, it is being asked to shoulder an enormous burden, at great environmental and economic cost, in order to trade energy through Marinus Link... All for the benefit of foreign-owned corporations.

 

This GoFundMe was started to raise the funds needed to stop this monstrous, unnecessary project from going ahead. There will be substantial costs involved for legal action, including lawyers' fees and expert reports. Notices of Appeal have already been lodged with TASCAT (the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal) in relation to the Burnie Council's recent approval of the Marinus Development Application.

 

Tasmania needs your help. Together, we can save this beautiful state from the economic and environmental destruction of Project Marinus. Even if you are not able to give financially, sharing this campaign with others will do much to help spread the word and is greatly appreciated.