Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I back the amendment moved by Senator Siewert. I would like to briefly ask the minister about the Mary River dam proposed at Traveston Crossing near Gympie in Queensland. The matter has been referred to him for consideration under the act. What is not clear is whether the initial proposal for the dam is to be assessed or whether the potential for a higher dam is going to be the one that the minister looks at. In view of the fact that the Queensland government is making it very clear that it seriously intends if not to go ahead with the higher dam then to make sure there is no impediment to it going ahead in the future—for example, through the purchase of private lands—it would seem to be sensible that the minister consider the proposal as a whole and the impact of the much bigger dam on the Mary River system and the wider ecosystem that will be affected.

Would the minister give an outline of the threatened species and what the impact will be on them? It might be a bit early for this, but I can tell the chamber that my impression is that the impact on the Queensland lungfish, for example, which is internationally regarded as an important link between we vertebrates on land and the marine vertebrates from which we come, will be enormously detrimental. The major breeding grounds of this listed-as-endangered creature are parts of the gravel bottom of the Mary River, where it lays its eggs. The major extent of what is left of its breeding grounds will be suffocated under the dam. Critical to any creature’s survival is the area where it reproduces. There is grave concern about the Mary River turtle, as well as the Mary River cod and a number of other species. There are alternatives to the dam but there are no alternatives to them.

I know it is early days but I wonder if the minister could say over what period his consideration of the impact of this megaproposal will be. I want to know how long it will take and also what the process will be and what circumstances might lead him to decide that this proposal will have too great an impact on the nation’s heritage to allow it to go ahead.