In a rare case of unity, all Dubbo candidates, except the Nationals Dugald Saunders, agree that fish kills at Menindee and Lake Burrendong are a man-made catastrophe.
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“By the size of the dead fish, you can see they have lived through droughts and dry weather before,” Shooters Fishers Farmers Dubbo candidate Lara Quealy said.
“The government that supposedly represents rural and regional Australia has failed us again, when will we start to see more water storage and major dams built? Without long term progressive vision, careful water management and greater water storage, communities will continue to run out of water and fish will continue to die.”
Stephen Lawrence said Labor wants genuine long term solutions to the crisis.
“That starts with recognising the mismanagement of water in NSW,” he said. “While many of our waterways are in poor health due to drought and mismanagement by the Nationals, the Nationals are committed to spending $2 billion on Sydney Stadiums".
The Greens Rod Pryor said the evidence is stacking up against the Nationals.
“It is incompetence at best and corruption at worst, the reduction in environmental flows is just plain wrong, there should be set minimum flow requirements to maintain a viable river system after all the water act states that the environment has priority.
“We have just had successive National ministers gouging as much back from the environment as they can to pay back their supporters in the cotton irrigation industry.”
Independent Mat Dickerson said installing aerators was probably “too little, too late.”
“We should be stopping blockages in weirs, so it makes it easier for fish to swim upstream and breed, also screening on intake pipes of irrigators, we need holistic solutions not band-aid measures like aerators,” he said.
But NSW Nationals Candidate for Dubbo, Dugald Saunders welcomed the installation of aeration technology at Lake Burrendong saying “it was good news for the environment and our fishers.”
“Unfortunately, this may not be the last fish kill for our region this summer, especially as high temperatures continue,” he said.
“With our catchment expected to drop even lower, any help to try and reduce the impact of kills is good news for the environment and our fishers.”