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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-09-24 Daily Xml
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MURRAY RIVER

The Hon. M. PARNELL (15:46): I wish to speak to members today about the urgent plight of the River Murray, the Lower Lakes and the Coorong and to urge us all not to be complacent about recent events that might lead people to think that the situation is in hand. As all members would be aware, the plight of the Lower Lakes and the Coorong is never far from the front page of our newspapers or far from the lead story in radio and television bulletins.

The cycle over the past month or so has been one of hopes raised when water appears to be available, only to find them dashed again when a new study finds that the water is not available. Then hopes will be raised again and dashed again. These hopes are the hopes of our farming communities and of conservationists, who are seeking environmental water to keep alive our plant and animal species that depend on fresh water in the River Murray, its tributaries and its lakes. Probably the best description of the situation is that the action that has been taken so far is generally regarded as too little and too late. Despite many saying it is too late, others hold out hope that we can recover the situation, but only if urgent action is taken.

A recent submission to the Senate by the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists commences with the following words:

There is an unfolding environmental disaster and human tragedy in the Murray-Darling Basin, mirrored in the Coorong and Lower Lakes. In the basin and across much of southern and eastern Australia dry conditions have persisted for a decade. Salinity levels in the southern Coorong now exceed the maximum levels tolerated by the plants and animals that underpin the international status of these wetlands and acid sulphate soils lie ready to be exposed and release acid into the water if lake levels continue to fall.

Another commentator, Stephen Beare, a consultant to the Murray Darling Commission, only a month or two ago, again referring to the international status of these wetlands, stated:

A RAMSAR site has never been delisted. Australia stands a good chance to be the first country to have to admit that it has not been able to live up to its international obligations to protect a listed area. This is unlikely to escape the attention of our trading partners for whom it will provide an opportunity to criticise the credentials of our agricultural exports. Scientists argue that the window of opportunity is less than six months, but the cost of immediate action is high. Winter and spring flows in the order of 400 gigalitres of freshwater would be needed this year to return the lakes to sea level.

There is no shortage of other prominent Australians saying that urgent action is needed. On Sunday in Adelaide, in Victoria Square, members have an opportunity to show the public where they stand on urgent action for the River Murray. Midday in Victoria Square, Sunday 28 September, the day after the grand final, five speakers will be presenting their views on what is needed and calling on governments to take urgent action. These are not all Greens members; in fact, only one is.

Whilst the Greens have been prominent in helping to organise the rally, we have actually invited people who have run against us in elections because it needs to be a multi-party response. As well as Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, the youngest person ever elected to the Senate, there will be the Hon. Nick Xenophon, well known to members here, who has been championing the cause of River Murray irrigators, and Mr Matt Rigney, the Chairperson of the Murray Lower Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations. It is easy for us to forget that indigenous peoples have a real stake, and not just the Ngarrindjeri people of South Australia but also other first nations as well.

We will also see Dr David Paton, one of the most eloquent speakers on the state of the Coorong and the Lower Lakes, and even Professor Di Bell, who ran against the Greens in the election and managed to get 16 per cent of the vote. I urge all members to turn up on Sunday and not be complacent just because we have bills before us dealing with the long term.

Time expired.

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