Thursday, 4 May 2023

Adjournment

Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (22:02): I move:

That the house do now adjourn.

Eastern Victoria Region waterway management

Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (22:02): (186) My adjournment matter this evening is for the Minister for Water and relates to the eradication of weeds, and the catchment management authority is the auspicing body for this.

Members interjecting.

Ingrid Stitt: On a point of order, President, I am on adjournment duty and I could not hear who Ms Bath’s adjournment matter was for and what her action was.

The PRESIDENT: Ms Bath, could you go from the top, please?

Melina BATH: Thank you, President. My adjournment matter this evening is for the Minister for Water, but as the Minister for Environment is at the table, it relates to weed eradication on the Cobungra River and also Mitta Mitta and Bundara River at the very top north-east of my electorate. So it should be for the Minister for Water, I am assuming, but if not you are listening as well, which is wonderful.

These are most beautiful environments, the Cobungra River, the Mitta and the Bundara, and all feed into the Big River up at Anglers Rest, again a most gorgeous place well attended by not only anglers but campers and hikers and people who just enjoy the very High Country. There has been significant funding, about $400,000, to remove willows and also brooms and blackberries. Some of that has been completed by Friends of the Mitta, who do a most amazing job volunteering to mitigate pests and invasive species, but in this case some of this money was spent on contractors. The contractors came into the Cobungra River, which nestles at the bottom, right beside Anglers Rest. They took out 20 different trees, but they have left the stumps. They are an amenity issue, but they are also a danger in terms of people using the pub and walking around the grounds and actually going down to the river. So it is a very simple request. Michael Mullins has been the proprietor there for 15 years, but also Jeffe Aronson, who is very much an integral part of Friends of the Mitta, has been doing a lot of restorative work. All would like the removal of at least the 20 stumps of the willows to be finished. It started in August last year, and everybody would just like them out for safety reasons.