Page 183 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 13 February 2019
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In addition to these activities, the ACT is a global and national leader on addressing the causes of climate change. The issues facing the Murray-Darling Basin have been magnified in recent times by drought across large parts of the basin. It is important that planning for proper water management consider the impacts of climate change, including hotter average temperatures and any reduction in the availability of water in the environment. I note the initiatives already mentioned by Minister Gentleman, including the water strategy 2014-44, striking the balance. We are not sitting idly by. We are taking action. We are committed to the health of the Murray-Darling Basin.
I commend Ms Cheyne’s motion to the Assembly this afternoon. I was struck by just how extraordinary the shadow environment minister’s contribution was today and how far off the mark and how far away from community sentiment those comments were. I guess we learn a lot when we bring forward these sorts of motions and people actually speak their mind on them. Sometimes it is good to hear what those opposite have to say on these issues, because they purport to be the alternative government of the largest city in the Murray-Darling Basin.
MS CHEYNE (Ginninderra) (4.30), in reply: I thank colleagues for their comments today. As we have heard, safeguarding our waterways is critical and this is why we should all be concerned about the findings of the Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission report. This is why we should all be dismayed by the mismanagement of Australia’s largest river network.
The ACT is one of the many puzzle pieces that make up the mighty Murray-Darling Basin. So we do have a responsibility to do our bit for the greater health of our water and our environment, just like other governments and bodies have a responsibility to do their bit.
Standing in this chamber today, I cannot help but feel like a broken record. No city or town is an island. No river is bound by hard borders. Decisions that other jurisdictions take do affect us. Why the Canberra Liberals continue to deny this is as clear as mud.
Ms Lee does not seem to like me using words like “condemn” or “embarrassing”, so I will take the opportunity to use some others. I found it stunning and cringe-worthy to hear the shadow minister describe issues around the ACT’s water supply as sitting squarely within the federal arena. I was troubled to learn just how little she understands about the interaction in the management of the Murray-Darling Basin between federal and state and territory governments. But most of all I was disheartened to hear her lack of passion for the issue, especially given she is supposed to be the alternative minister.
Like feral horses, water does not recognise state or territory boundaries. If an environmental catastrophe like the mass fish deaths in the Darling River—with swathes of dead, smelly, bloated fish floating on the surface—is not enough to have every member of this chamber concerned about the future of the Murray-Darling Basin, I do not know what is. If a damning royal commission report is not enough to have every member of this chamber concerned about the future of the Murray-Darling Basin, I do not know what is.
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