06/06/2026
292 Labor Branches have passed the LEAN motion proposing to make the Diesel Fuel rebate fairer - and this discussion is happening at branches right across Australia! From the NT to WA to Tassie!
Well done to Sorrel Tasman Branch in Tasmania! These folks live in a beautiful place!
"Located just 25 kilometres northeast of Hobart, Sorell is one of Tasmania's oldest towns. Bordering Sorell and Midway Point, is the Pitt water-Orielton Lagoon which is designated as a wetland of international significance.
It is uniquely famous as Tasmania's only urban Ramsar site.
Positioned at the absolute southern limit of the East Asian–Australasian Flyway, the wetland serves as a critical summer feeding ground for migratory shorebirds. Birds like the Eastern Curlew and Bar-tailed Godwit fly over 10,000 kilometres from places like Siberia to rest here.
It is also a crucial Marine Nursery. The shallow estuarine waters and seagrass beds act as a vital breeding ground and nursery for marine life, most notably gummy sharks and commercial fish species.
The rocky shores of Pitt Water are home to a highly unique and critically endangered marine resident: the Tasmanian live-bearing seastar (Parvulastra vivipara). Growing to just 15mm in diameter, this tiny creature is one of only a few seastar species globally that gives birth to live young instead of releasing eggs into the water.
During upgrades to the Sorell causeway, local volunteers undertook a massive conservation effort, manually relocating 21,368 individual seastars out of harm's way.
The local landscape reflects a dynamic and sometimes fragile history of human intervention.
For thousands of years, the Mumirimina people sustainably managed the salt marshes and estuarine margins. Evidence of their lifestyle remains visible around the coastline today via ancient shell middens and stone artefacts.
In 1868, European settlers built a massive stone causeway to connect Sorell to Hobart. This completely cut off Orielton Lagoon from natural tidal flushing, severely altering its water salinity and quality for over a century.
In 1995, culverts were finally added to restore tidal water exchange and revive the lagoon's ecosystem.
Wielangta Forest, Located on Sorell's municipal border, is a wet eucalyptus forest and is historically famous for its role in Tasmanian forestry debates and serves as a vital habitat refuge for rare species, like the Swift Parrot and the Tasmanian Wedge-tailed Eagle.
Because the wetlands sit at the end of a heavily modified agricultural and urban catchment, they face constant pressure from runoff. The local council and Landcare groups run targeted initiatives like the Rivers to Ramsar Project to clear invasive weeds, exclude livestock, and rebuild the native coastal saltmarshes."
Jess TeesdaleJulie Collins MPRebecca WhiteAnne Urquhart MPSenator Carol BrownSenator Helen PolleySenator Josh Dolega LEAN SW TasmaniaTasmanian Young LaborLEAN Tasmania - Labor Environment Action Networkl
