Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have two matters of importance that I wish to talk about today: the scourge of plastics in our ocean and the Murray-Darling Basin—specifically, the great challenge and opportunity that is before the government right now to protect our great River Murray and the communities and ecosystems that draw life from its water.

Over recent months we've all seen the dramatic effects of our majestic River Murray in flood. In South Australia we had so many people, including many people from my community, who gave their support to communities along the river. But things never stand still—not the river and not our climate. The Bureau of Meteorology has now declared the third consecutive La Nina season has ended, but, consistent with natural oscillations, an El Nino is likely to develop later this year, and that will bring drought, heat waves and bushfires to eastern Australia. While the Murray is in high flow it's all too easy to forget that the river system is, more often than not, low because of drought and because of overallocation. Sooner or later, and probably sooner, drought and low water levels will return.

We have the $13 billion Murray-Darling Basin Plan designed to address this problem. Within that larger plan there are the very important efficiency measures designed to return 450 gigalitres to the Lower Lakes, Coorong and the mouth of the Murray, the end of the river. $1.5 billion was set aside to spend between 1 July 2014 and 30 June next year to recover these 450 gigalitres. We're nine years into this budget and only 4.5 gigalitres has been recovered. That's around one per cent, at a cost of around $275 million. There's one year left until the plan ends, with 99 per cent of the work left to do. You don't have to be a genius to realise that we're just not going to get there. The government have had their scientists look at it. They believe that we can maybe get to 60 gigalitres of recovery. They say that to get to the full 450 gigalitres we're going to need to spend anywhere between $3.4 billion and $10.8 billion. That's the value of the water debt that will be owed to South Australia from July next year.

I know the minister cares about the 450 gigalitres—I've asked her questions in the parliament about this—but there doesn't appear to me to be a forward plan. Last month the water ministers failed to reach an agreement on how the gigalitres of water promised for the environment would be recovered. At a ministerial council meeting in February this year in Sydney, New South Wales and Victoria called for a two-year extension to deliver the water-saving projects. Our South Australian minister argued for more voluntary buybacks, but federal and state ministers were unable to agree. So there are large problems ahead. What we've seen since the millennium drought is that there has been a retreat, and people are no longer willing to go beyond their borders and think about what's needed for the whole nation rather than what's needed for their own state. We don't need another water ministers meeting to know that we need action. We really clearly need action, and we need it yesterday.

Despite the Commonwealth Water Act 2007 and the implementation of the current Basin Plan, we still have different water rules in each state, different compliance measures, different governments distributing money for different elements of the plan, different levels of accountability measures and a general opaqueness with respect to oversight of the plan. It's a mess of overlapping jurisdictions and diffused accountability that allows vested interests to exert an effective veto through state governments over water management reforms. The Murray-Darling is a vital resource that cannot be managed on the basis of lowest-common-denominator agreements. We need a fully national framework that operates in the national interest.

In the meantime, the government absolutely needs to make this front and centre and of the highest priority. It must take up the challenge, because drought will return—that is a certainty—and the gross overallocation of our water resources will again be laid bare. As the person who has the very end of the river in her electorate, I can't tell you how much concern and anxiety sits within our community now, knowing that that 450 gigalitres hasn't been delivered, knowing that the current Murray-Darling Basin Plan does not have any calculations in it for climate change, knowing that our nation will be getting drier and drier.

The Prime Minister, I believe, needs to convene a special meeting with the premiers of South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland and the Chief Minister of the ACT before 30 June this year in an aim to secure an agreement and to introduce new federal legislation to amend the Water Act by no later than the end of this year. This schedule would allow for debate and preparations for the implementation of a new Murray-Darling Basin Plan before the expiry of the current plan. There is a great opportunity here to show national leadership to do this. We really do need, I believe, a Murray-Darling Basin Plan 2.0; otherwise, what happens when we get to the end of the plan in a year's time and that promised water is not delivered?

I would like to talk about another issue that troubles my community very much and, I think, our whole nation, and that's around plastic pollution. We have some of the most pristine beaches in the world in Australia. In fact, in my electorate, we have Stokes Bay, the beach that won the national beach competition. The kids at KI school, at KICE, go out and collect all of the rubbish pollution on the beach very, very regularly.

Plastic pollution has reached epidemic proportions, with an estimated eight million metric tonnes of plastic finding their way into our ocean every year. This not only endangers marine life; it also poses a significant threat to our own health and wellbeing. The toxic chemicals present in plastic can contaminate the food chain, ultimately making their way into our bodies. It is a vicious cycle, and we must break this for the sake of our future generations as well as our own.

There is hope. That hope is in the form of the proposed UN 2024 treaty and international agreement aimed at combating plastic pollution. This treaty holds the promise of a comprehensive framework that will guide nations in tackling plastic waste and safeguarding our oceans. It will establish binding targets for plastic waste reduction at a national level, compelling countries to develop and implement effective strategies to meet these targets. Focusing on waste reduction, recycling and the promotion of sustainable alternatives to single-use plastics can make significant strides in mitigating the plastic crisis.

I would like to say South Australia have led the way in this for a very, very long time. We were the first ones to ban plastic bags and single-use plastics. Everyone going to the shops in South Australia either takes their bag from home or gets the recycled paper bags. It's a no-brainer for us, and I'd like to see that nationally and a real emphasis on thinking about every time we say yes to a plastic bag.

International cooperation will be a key pillar of this treaty. Plastic pollution knows no borders, and no single nation can address this issue in isolation. The proposed UN 2024 treaty will foster collaboration and encourage information-sharing, technology transfer and financial assistance to support developing countries in their effort to combat plastic pollution. Working together, we can pool our resources and expertise to tackle this global challenge head on. The treaty will encourage innovation and research into sustainable materials and technologies. We must invest in the development of biodegradable plastics, recycling infrastructure and waste management systems that prioritise the circular economy.

This is a problem of our own making. Looking back a century ago, plastic wasn't invented, it wasn't part of everyday life, and yet people managed to live very full and free lives, and our oceans were not full of plastic pollution. The proposed UN 2024 treaty represents a historic opportunity for us to work together as nations to preserve the health and vitality of our oceans and our livelihoods.