Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Climate Change and Water (Senator Wong) to a question without notice asked by Senator Hanson-Young today relating to the Lower Lakes.

I would like to make some brief remarks in relation to Minister Wong’s answers to my question earlier. The minister seems not to understand that it is an important part of both her job and Minister Garrett’s job to do all that they can to protect the Lower Lakes, the Coorong and the communities that rely on them. The crisis in the area is devastating. We know that the lakes are dying before our eyes. We know that the Coorong is in such a state of disarray that there are question marks over the continued existence of species, particularly those that live in the southern lagoon. We know that we are putting at risk our agreements with countries like China, Japan and Canada to protect the habitats of migratory birds. These are things that the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts and the Minister for Climate Change and Water must have at the top of their agendas.

It was very clear from today’s answers from the minister that she does not see making decisions about the Lower Lakes as being a particularly important part of her role or the federal environment minister’s role. These decisions need to be made urgently and action needs to be taken urgently. This is not an issue that should be tackled just by the local communities in the Lower Lakes. This is not just an issue for South Australia. This is an issue that should be taken on board and tackled immediately by the federal government. Does this Prime Minister want to be the only leader in Australian history to oversee the death of what is currently listed as an environmentally significant site? I do not think so. So he needs to step up and take some action.

We know what the answers are to saving the Lower Lakes: buying them some more time, giving them a lifeline to get through the next few months until we can have some type of plan brought forward by the government. The solution is fresh water. We know the water is there. We know it is available. The government could go and buy it on the temporary market now if they wished to. But the fact is that the political will is nonexistent at the moment.

Currently, the state government in South Australia has a number of proposals that have been referred to the federal environment minister for his approval. They all relate to weirs, regulators and the flooding of the Lower Lakes with salt water. Not one of these options is about saving the Lower Lakes, protecting them from being delisted from the Ramsar wetlands listing. Not one of them does anything to make sure that the Lower Lakes are saved for the next 12 months, the next five years or future generations. Not one of the plans does that. The proposals are all individual and they are all about engineering solutions which do nothing to save the lakes. They only provide the state and federal governments with the opportunity to cut a ribbon with a nice expensive price tag.

My question to the minister was: what are the federal government going to do? Where is their acknowledgement of their responsibility in this issue? Senator Wong was not able to tell us what the plan is or to outline what she believed the government’s responsibility should be and what they would be doing about it. I asked who would be funding the Wellington weir. Is any federal money going towards the construction or operation of this proposed weir, for which the environment minister has just handed down an environmental impact assessment? We know that it is going to be disastrous for the environment of the Lower Lakes and will also have a significant impact on the water quality on the other side of the weir. Let me remind you that that is the water source from which Adelaide draws its drinking water. So who is funding the Wellington weir? Is it a combination of the state and federal governments? Is it just the state government? Is it just the federal government? The minister could not answer that question.

That in itself raises a question mark and concerns over whether the minister really has her eye on the ball regarding the proposals being put forward by the state government and her responsibility as the minister for water and the responsibility of the minister for the environment. Where is their commitment to saving these internationally significant wetlands? Where is the commitment from the federal government that they will do everything they can to protect what is an iconic environmental site in Australia? It is an important part of South Australia’s history and an important part of Australia’s history. We need a federal government that is willing to stand up and take action to protect the Lower Lakes.

Question agreed to.