Patrick Secker (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to speak again of the devastating impact of declining water access and quality on the Narrung Peninsula and to call for this area to be declared a national disaster zone. Not only is it a national disaster for those people living on the Narrung Peninsula; it is a national environmental disaster as well. The lakes that I refer to—Lake Albert and Lake Alexandrina—are very important to the Murray-Darling system. In fact, they are often described as the lungs of the Murray-Darling system because of the flushing effect that they have on the lower Murray reaches. Unfortunately, what we have now is an absolute disaster that we have never seen in this country before.

More than 40 farmers along the Narrung Peninsula are faced with going out of business this year. When I say ‘faced’, I mean that they will go out of business if nothing happens to make their circumstances better. The lower lakes have now dropped below sea level, making it physically impossible for those farmers to access stock and domestic water. At the moment, it is actually about one metre below sea level. Given the very shallow and gently sloping nature of the lake beds, even a small drop in lake levels has a profound impact on residents’ ability to access water. In some areas along this coast, residents have to extend pipes up to three kilometres to reach the water’s edge. There is no fresh water around the lakes area, and most residents do not have access to mains water. The once-thriving dairy region is now so desperate that farmers are paying thousands of dollars to cart water for domestic use and stock, though there is no emergency water-carting assistance from the state government whatsoever.

The situation in the lower area of the Murray is so extreme that it must be declared a national disaster zone. Emergency relief funding is urgently needed to prevent the total collapse of farms and small communities—not to mention the Raukkan Aboriginal settlement—around the edges of the rapidly shrinking lakes. The lakes are getting to such an extreme stage that if we do not do something now, it will be too late, not only for the environment of the lakes but also for those who live around the lakes.

Last month I wrote to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, explaining to him the environmental disaster that is Lake Albert and the lower Murray. It seems that he has no idea of the area, nor does he have a clue that what we are talking about here is domestic and stock water. The minister’s response, alarmingly, only addressed irrigation; he had nothing to say about domestic water. In fact, he suggested that people in this area go to the state government—so much for the blame game that the new government said it would not be taking part in. If you have a look at the map on the department’s website, you will see that Lake Albert has not even got full ‘exceptional circumstances’ rating; it is still shown as ‘interim’. This is the only area for hundreds of kilometres in South Australia that has not got full EC rating. What could possibly be ‘interim’ about no rainfall, reduced flows, the water in the lakes dropping below sea level and no domestic water? The minister’s response was out of touch. He simply passed the buck, referring the irrigation concerns to the South Australian government and ignoring the domestic and stock water crisis of this area.

This situation is not about irrigation; it is about real farm families—working families—whose homes are on the shores of Lake Albert and who no longer have access to water. At a public meeting last week in Meningie, the South Australian minister for water met with locals to address their concerns about a national water plan and the environmental flows of the river. The minister asked landholders to contribute to an issues paper that would come out at the end of April. These residents have no water for domestic purposes. These people cannot even have a shower. To ask them to contribute to an issues paper does nothing to alleviate the urgency and the immediacy of their situation.

If it is good enough for Mackay, in Prime Minister Rudd’s home state of Queensland, to be declared a national disaster area because it got too much rain, then it is good enough for Lake Albert and the lower Murray, which have had none at all, to be declared a national disaster area. This is a national disaster, a national crisis, and not enough action is being taken by either the federal Labor government or the state Labor government. I call on Prime Minister Rudd to exert his authority and enact federal legislation to override the states on this matter.