2021-12-08
Media release
The Greens will today call for Australia’s rivers and lakes to be swimmable again, pledging $150m for intensive environmental restoration, clean up and water management.
Launching the initiative in Adelaide at the home of the iconic Port River dolphins, Greens Environment Spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said urban waterways like Adelaide’s Port and Torrens Rivers, Melbourne’s Yarra River and Canberra’s Lake Burley Griffin should once again be swimmable, in turn creating jobs and boosting tourism.
Greens Spokesperson for the Environment and Senator for SA Sarah Hanson-Young said:
“Swimmable rivers and lakes just makes sense. Restoring our waterways to be healthy, free from pollution and clean enough to swim in benefits everyone. It will create jobs, be good for tourism, enhance the enjoyment of these areas for locals and take care of our environment and wildlife.
“Last year the Greens called for the Torrens River to be swimmable again and now we have seen other political parties and local organisations back our call.
“Making our rivers and lakes swimmable is about cleaning up pollution and protecting our environment. Our marine life like the iconic Port River dolphins are suffering because of pollution. Pollution is preventable and it is fixable there just needs to be the political will to make it happen.
“The Port River has recently lost four of its iconic dolphins with a fifth one sick.
“Reducing pollution and making the River healthy and swimmable will clearly be of enormous benefit not just to the dolphins but the entire ecosystem and the tourism and jobs that depend on a healthy river.
“Whether it’s the Port and Torrens Rivers here in SA, the Yarra in Melbourne where locals are getting increasingly vocal about making their river swimmable again, Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra, swimmable should be the standard and the Greens are pledging the resources to get it done."
Dolphin Dock and the Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary Action Group’s Marianna Boorman said:
"Pollution in our waterways is an ongoing issue and is having devastating effects on the dolphins, birds, fish and other wildlife that live in the area.
"Since 2018 we have had 17 adult resident dolphins pass away and no surviving calves. We are expecting two of our well-known resident mother dolphins to have calves very soon.
"It is vital that we clean up the water, stop the pollution that is entering the area and do everything possible to give the dolphins we have left and their future calves the best opportunity to survive."