Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Owing to the rearrangement of business today, I was not here when the notices of motion were called on. I seek leave to give a notice of motion.

Leave granted.

That the Senate—

(a)

notes that:

(i)

triazines are banned throughout Europe because of their impact on public health and the environment, yet they are still allowed to be used in Australia,

(ii)

as Leader of the Tasmanian Greens in the early 1990s, Senator Milne called for a ban on the use of triazines in Tasmania, following the contamination of Olivers Creek at Lorinna,

(iii)

the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (the authority) took 11 years to review the use of atrazines and came up with recommendations that are simply insufficient, and

(iv)

it is time that the Federal Government took a much keener interest in the contamination of river systems and the impact on human and animal health, with responsibility for this ranging across the environment, water, health and agriculture portfolios; and

(b)

calls on the Government to ban the use of triazines until the authority can demonstrate that they are safe to use.