Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I, and also on behalf of Senator Whish-Wilson, move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

  (i) the Fitzroy and Margaret Rivers in Western Australia are home to the critically-endangered Freshwater Sawfish (Pristis pristis) that can grow up to seven metres long,

  (ii) in December 2018, 46 Freshwater Sawfish died in pools connected to Snake Creek, a tributary of the Fitzroy River,

  (iii) the Western Australian Government is investigating whether there is a connection between these deaths and the extraction of billions of litres of water out of Snake Creek on Ms Gina Rinehart's Liveringa pastoral lease,

  (iv) Ms Rinehart and others have proposed an irrigation scheme that would take a further 325 billion litres of water per annum out of the Fitzroy River, and

  (v) 16 October 2019, is World Sawfish Day; and

(b) calls on the Western Australian Government to ensure the protection of the Fitzroy River and its population of critically-endangered Sawfish.

Question agreed to.