Trevor Evans (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have spoken previously in this chamber about my passion for the Brisbane River and Moreton Bay. These are the most significant local and environmental assets in South-East Queensland. Last week, I attended the launch of the annual Healthy Waterways and Catchments Report Card for 2016. These annual reports have been conducted for 16 years now, and each one gives us some further insight into the water quality, health and environmental status of the catchments in South-East Queensland. This year's report reiterated many things that we already know to be true. The Brisbane River, around my Brisbane electorate, scores a pass mark, but only barely, while parts of Moreton Bay receive good to excellent grades and parts of the inland catchment continue to fail, predominantly due to sedimentation.

The good news this year was that there was some overall improvement in the scores for the Brisbane River and Moreton Bay, but that needs to be counterbalanced by the fact that the improvement was mostly down to the weather, not direct intervention. Basically, lower rainfall meant lower sediment run-off and therefore better water quality. So, while the movement has been positive, the health of the Brisbane River and its catchment remains precarious.

My passion for the Brisbane River catchment and Moreton Bay originally came from my love of our native fauna and flora and my keen love of outdoor recreation. My work with the catchment, when I worked at Seqwater, taught me more about the economic and social value of our catchment and what is being done to improve it. The Healthy Waterways report card made consistent recommendations to help improve the river and catchment, such as implementing and improving erosion and sediment control, investing in stormwater management and other retrofitted infrastructure in key urban areas, and focusing on vegetation in and around urban and rural waterways.

It is no coincidence that these priorities are exactly what I am hoping to address when I deliver on some of the election commitments I made: $80,000 for water-smart street trees, rain gardens and other water sensitive urban design to reduce stormwater run-off and road run-off; $70,000 to tackle sediment run-off at local parks like Teneriffe Park; $360,000 for riparian planting and erosion control projects for tributaries into the Brisbane River, including the Enoggera Creek; Green Army projects to protect and improve habitat, replant with native species and rejuvenate the local environment through removal and control of invasive species; and $50,000 for the great waterways clean-up program, which directly removes litter from the Brisbane River.

These are precisely the sorts of projects and initiatives that are needed to protect and improve the quality of the Brisbane River, its catchment and Moreton Bay—Brisbane's most significant environmental assets. I would like to thank Healthy Waterways and Catchments for their great work. I would also like to pay a very special tribute to all of their partners and sponsors, who work tirelessly on the ground and throughout our community. I am proud to be making these commitments to our environment. I look forward to being an active and constructive partner to those who care about our environment, and I also look forward to working hard to make a difference in many important areas like this.