John Watson (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Standing Committee on Regulations and Ordinances, I give notice that 15 sitting days after today I shall move:

That the Inclusion of species in the list of threatened species (Nos. 42 to 45) made under section 178 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, be disallowed.

I seek leave to incorporate in Hansard a short summary of the matter raised by the committee.

Leave granted.

The summary read as follows—

Inclusions of species in the list of threatened species (Nos. 42 to 45)

The four instruments amend the list of threatened species in the Endangered, Critically Endangered and Vulnerable categories.

The information regarding consultation that is supplied in the explanatory statements to each of these four instruments notes that ‘parties with relevant expertise were directly consulted regarding their views’. It would assist in understanding the nature of the consultation process if the explanatory statements named these parties and also gave some indication of their responses to the changes that are made by these instruments. The committee has therefore written to the minister seeking further information on the consultation process.

Senator Nettle to move on the next day of sitting:

That the Senate—

(a)

notes that:

(i)

important wetlands and floodplain areas in the Murray-Darling Basin face the threat of irretrievable ecological damage as a result of river diversions and unauthorised interception banks (in areas including, but not limited to, the Condamine, Ballonne and the southern Macquarie Marshes),

(ii)

unregulated and unmetered off-stream water storage, such as Cubbie Station, places an unsustainable burden on our shared water resources and undermines efforts to manage limited resources in an equitable and sustainable fashion, and

(iii)

while the drought has exacerbated this situation, even a cyclical improvement in drought conditions will not improve these threatened ecosystems while these diversions remain in place; and

(b)

calls on the Federal Government to:

(i)

work with the New South Wales and Queensland Governments to legislate and regulate to ensure uninterrupted environmental flows, and

(ii)

look at options of buying out unsustainable operations such as Cubbie Station.