Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to thank the Minister for the Environment and Water, the Hon. Murray Watt, for his commitment and attention to the Murray-Darling Basin, particularly in listing the lower Murray as critically endangered. The river is under threat. Overextraction, feral animals, weeds, habitat loss and salinity have all led to a system that we have relied on for generations being less predictable and less stable.

The impacts of an endangered system are felt far beyond the banks of the Murray. Our farmers rely on this river. Our farmers rely on this river to feed the nation. Our communities rely on the river for fresh water and for their very existence across South Australia. There is also a greet reliance from locals and tourists on the river system for leisure, and this goes to the whole manner of how we live our lives in South Australia.

For us, a healthy river system isn't an abstract concept by any stretch. The prosperity of our state, the future of our farmers and the health of our communities are all reliant on the health of the river. Bringing environmental flows back to the river system, restoring those natural systems, is going to be the work of generations. This cannot happen overnight. But that is exactly what this listing does. It gives us a chance to take this opportunity to focus our attention and to genuinely guide actions on the water to make a fundamental difference. (Time expired)