2023-03-24
The NSW Government's failure to act swiftly and effectively on the Menindee fish kills has been slammed by Cate Faehrmann, Greens MP and water spokesperson, who visited the town yesterday and witnessed the devastating impact of the ecological disaster.
Ms Faehrmann said that the current clean-up of dead fish was a farce and nowhere near the scale required to prevent further damage to the river system and the health of local residents.
Ms Faehrmann also criticised the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) for its delay in releasing water quality test results from Menindee, saying that it was unacceptable that locals still did not know what was in their water supply.
"The clean-up of millions of rotting fish carcasses is a joke, barely begun more than a week after they began clogging up the river. The government should have been ready with an immediate emergency response to remove the dead fish before they decomposed risking even worse conditions on the river," said Ms Faehrmann.
“I’ve heard from locals on the ground that the current clean up is nothing more than a tokenistic tick-a-box effort from the NSW Government with a few people in tinnies riding around scooping up what fish are still left on the surface after over a week.
"It's outrageous that the EPA has still not returned their water quality test results after they promised to fast-track testing at a community meeting on Tuesday. The community is crying out for answers and still receiving nothing.
"This fish kill is a symptom of a broken system that prioritises irrigation over ecology, profits over people, and politics over science. We need a royal commission to investigate how we got here and how we can fix it before it's too late," said Ms Faehrmann.
Contact: Jacob Miller - 0428 837 292