Fish Kills in the Murray Darling

January 11, 2019

Today, Bill Shorten and the Labor team called on Scott Morrison to act on the unfolding ecological disaster in NSW. We need immediate action to investigate the widespread fish kills in the Murray-Darling to ensure that we can get the crisis under control before it becomes an ecological catastrophe.

Labor is calling on Scott Morrison to establish an emergency scientific taskforce to investigate the fish kills. This taskforce must

• Investigate what caused fish kills on this scale
• Investigate whether water management in the Murray-Darling system caused this crisis or has exacerbated the problem
• Investigate the contribution of agricultural chemicals and fertilisers to the disaster
• Recommend immediate steps to be taken to rectify the damage

It is essential that this action is taken quickly and effectively. Labor will be ready to implement urgent legislative change to address this crisis, guided by the scientific taskforce's findings.