Kate Ellis (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to raise the issue of the River Murray and to talk about how, as a South Australian MP, I have been utterly appalled by a series of comments that have been made in this House in recent weeks and how I remain deeply frustrated by the approach of the Howard government in tackling this issue of major national importance. I put on the record once again the serious concerns I have for the environmental health of the Murray, the significant visual changes that I have witnessed with my own eyes to the river in the South Australia and the devastating impact that the current drought is having on regional communities across the country. I have spoken in this chamber on issues related to the River Murray on several occasions, but I have been appalled in the past few weeks to find a lack of understanding of these issues from some in the Howard government.

On the 18th of last month a number of extraordinary statements were made in this House by MPs in response to a matter of public interest debate on effective rural policy. Before I elaborate, I will say from the outset that I have great sympathy for the Australian farmers who are doing it tough in the face of a drought that is devastating many parts of the country. I recognise and thank them for the contribution that they make to Australia’s way of life and to our economy.

We are at a point now where the vast majority of Australians are so concerned about the health of the River Murray that they want immediate action from their government to rectify this problem. This is certainly the case in South Australia, where an effective Save the Murray campaign has been running for some years. We also have our own minister for the River Murray at a state government level who is widely acknowledged as having done an outstanding job. The last thing we need is for irresponsible MPs upstream to try to put the debate in reverse gear by claiming that the Murray is in fact in a fine condition and that the scientists who say otherwise are just fools.

But this is what we saw on 18 October in this chamber when coalition MP and member for Page, Ian Causley, argued that Professor Peter Cullen of the Wentworth Group, who is one of Australia’s leading water experts, was simply wrong. In an insulting attack the member for Page said:

Professor … Cullen parades as a scientist … But I have to say that the two comments I remember clearly were, firstly, about the Murray-Darling River … when they said that the Murray-Darling was dying. In fact, the quality of the Murray River downstream is now better than it was 10 or 15 years ago …

Now everybody in South Australia knows how absurd these comments are. The member for Kennedy, Bob Katter, joined the attack on Professor Cullen by claiming:

… the salinity levels on the middle Murray and the lower Murray … are the lowest they have ever been in recorded history—

and saying that the Murray is not dying. Extraordinarily, he also stated that he had been to Murray Bridge and he saw that there was water from bank to bank.

Well I too have been to Murray Bridge. In fact, I grew up along the Murray, not very far away from Murray Bridge, in a town called Mannum. I had the opportunity to revisit the place of my childhood at Easter. I stood on the banks of the river and was absolutely shocked to see that the currents that used to drag us down the river when we were small children were no longer evident. In fact, the river was almost completely still. I have seen with my own eyes the changes that have taken place since I was a child; the obvious and tragic changes that have reshaped our great river in a way that perhaps nobody could have predicted and which we must now all endeavour to turn around.

It has been said before that South Australians should stop whingeing about what happens upstream. It has also been said that inner city MPs have no place in commenting on rural matters like the River Murray. I absolutely disagree. The River Murray goes to the heart of what Australians value about our community. We are proud of our regional heritage and we are proud of our stunning, vast environment. In Adelaide, we draw more than 40 per cent of our water from the Murray. During droughts, this dependence increases to more than 90 per cent. We absolutely have a right to be here calling for action. So people can continue to call me a whingeing South Australian, but I will continue to raise matters and to fight for a strong and healthy River Murray for as long as I am in this House and, in fact, longer.

Today I call on the Howard government to end the contradictory rhetoric and to start making the hard decisions that are so vital for the survival of this great river. The people of Australia deserve this; the people of South Australia, whose livelihood is dependent upon a strong Murray River, deserve this; and the people of Adelaide, the people whom I represent, who rely upon this great river for their water source, also deserve this. I call on the Prime Minister to stop trying to excuse himself from the table and to instead commit to protecting this river for the sake of all Australians and for the sake of future generations. This is something we will continue to push our alternative plan on. (Time expired)