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

I also seek to take note of this statement, and I will try to make my comments quick—if we are looking at time management issues. I am rising to talk about a particular place in the Kimberley that I personally and, I know, a lot of other people hold deep concerns about—about it being developed and water extracted—and that is the Fitzroy River. This is a particularly important river system in Western Australia. There have in fact been many campaigns to protect this river, and I have to declare here that I have been part of those campaigns to protect this river. People in the Kimberley are very concerned about the northern Australia development agenda and what it means for the Fitzroy River.

On 26 October there was a festival for the Fitzroy held. Over 500 people gathered on the riverbed of the Fitzroy River for a concert to show support for protecting the Fitzroy and Margaret rivers. Traditional owners called on the McGowan government to make sure no water would be extracted for large-scale irrigation.

This is not the first time that megaproposals have been proposed for the Fitzroy River. All, fortunately, have not proceeded. The people there and a number of other people have expressed their ongoing concerns about two recent fish kill events involving 46 critically endangered sawfish and large barramundi. This also affected a crocodile and a jabiru. The traditional owners argued this is an example of what could happen if large amounts of water were to be taken from the Fitzroy or its tributaries for irrigation. There were also events held in other places in Western Australia, including a seven-metre-long sawfish appearing on the steps of the Western Australian parliament house. The reason people are so concerned is we are already seeing these impacts, but there are also ongoing attempts to take out large amounts of water from the Fitzroy River. There have, as I said, been attempts in the past to dam the river for things like cotton growing. And I want to do a big shout-out here to all the traditional owners and to Environs Kimberley, who have campaigned so hard on protecting this really important river system.

The problem here is we have very large-scale proposals for large-scale irrigation. For example, there was irrigation proposed by, for example, the chair of Hancock Prospecting, Gina Rinehart, which proposed an investment of $285 million to divert 325 gigalitres of water from the river to water cotton and the cattle industry. That is not the only proposal that is around for the Fitzroy River. It is very important that the agenda for developing the north does not threaten these vital ecosystems.

I was in the Kimberley at the AGM for the Kimberley Land Council a couple of months ago, where many people stood behind a banner calling on the state government to protect the Fitzroy River. My clear message here is: protect the Fitzroy River; do not endanger it. It was listed on the National Heritage List in 2011. In 2016, the traditional owners published the Fitzroy River Declaration, calling for full protection of the river and its tributaries, with a buffer zone to protect it from mining, fracking, immigration and dams.

This is a desert river that is subject to the bloom and bust of monsoon rains. I have heard so many people say, 'The water is wasted; it's going out to sea.' That water is part of a vital ecosystem. It is vital to that ecosystem, and it is ignorant to just say that that water flowing down the system is wasted. It is not. It is very important for the ecosystem, but it also varies. So overcommitting the river system could kill the river system, and we have seen what can happen with the deaths of the sawfish.