Louise Markus (Greenway, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Recently, I was contacted by a constituent who drew my attention to weed problems in a specific section of the Hawkesbury-Nepean River. I immediately contacted local authorities and asked them to take appropriate action to remove the weeds as a matter of urgency. The Hawkesbury-Nepean River is one of Australia’s iconic rivers. It flows for a length of 470 kilometres, and drains approximately 21,400 square kilometres, or 2.14 million hectares, of land. The Hawkesbury-Nepean catchment area runs from Lake George in the south, to beyond Lithgow out west, follows the foothills of the Blue Mountains into the Hawkesbury region and pours out to sea at Broken Bay. It is spectacular and vitally important to the Sydney region. The river is heavily regulated along its length by dams and weirs, supplying water for Sydney, the Blue Mountains, the Hawkesbury and the Illawarra. The river also provides recreational farming and commercial opportunities.

The challenge is to protect the river from the demands of an increasing population and expanding urbanisation. It is estimated that another 300,000 people may live in the catchment by 2020. In recent years, algae blooms and excessive weed growth have been major problems. Water quality has been affected by pollutants entering the river and by insufficient release of water from Warragamba Dam to flush the river and creeks; environmental flows have been almost non-existent. It is through constant vigilance by local residents living or working near the river that many problems are identified. I want to thank the people who report the problems, and I especially want to thank the many volunteer groups who spend countless hours on river recovery programs.

There is much work being done: Bushcare groups tackle weeds, partnerships between the Hawkesbury-Nepean Catchment Management Authority and the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries assist farmers to improve farming practices and local scout groups plant native vegetation. The Hawkesbury-Nepean Catchment Management Authority also coordinates Landcare and river care groups, and there are other organisations that focus specifically on the Hawkesbury-Nepean—for example, the Office of the Hawkesbury-Nepean and the Hawkesbury River County Council. We need everyone to work together to ensure that the health of the Hawkesbury-Nepean River is secured for future generations. We also need appropriate levels of funding to ensure that the programs developed to protect the health of the river are well resourced.