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

Anti-salmon farming protestors at Verona Sands in southern Tasmania on 17 March. There is ‘visceral anger in the community’ about Labor’s plan to rush through laws to protect the salmon industry from a legal challenge linked to its impact on the endangered Maugean skate. Photograph: Ethan James/AAP

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