The incoming New South Wales Labor government has committed to an independent investigation into the most recent mass fish kill at Menindee, after Chris Minns visited the town a day after being sworn in as premier.
Minns acknowledged that while he did not have Labor MPs in the western part of the state, he wanted to make sure that the people of regional NSW knew that they would be a priority for the incoming Labor government.
“I think that the images of fish piling up on the side of the banks of this beautiful river was a concern for us and we wanted to make sure that we saw it with our own eyes, listened to the community and got an understanding of how the emergency response is taking place,” he said.
The visit comes four days after polls closed in the state, and Labor still needs two additional seats to reach the 47 needed to form a majority government.
One hundred kilometres south of Broken Hill, Menindee is in the electorate of Barwon, which was recently won with an increased margin by the former Shooters Fishers Farmers MP, independent Roy Butler.
Butler joined the premier on Wednesday to meet with the community and the emergency response team as the operation moved into the cleanup phase to remove millions of dead fish.
Minns visited the pop-up Emergency Operations Centre at the site of the fish excavation with the new environment and heritage minister, Penny Sharpe, and former shadow water minister Rose Jackson. Minns’ cabinet is yet to be finalised.
Just a week after the traditional owners and the wider community expressed their horror at the latest fish kill, locals welcomed the visit and confirmation of the independent investigation.
Commercial carp fisherman Charlie Henderson was one of the contractors tasked with the smelly job of dragging carcasses from the river. He told Guardian Australia he was very happy to see the premier out in Menindee. The premier personally thanked Henderson and his son, also called Charlie, for their hard work.
“It affects our industry, it affects the river and it affects the townspeople; it’s a big issue that needs to be sorted out,” Henderson said.
“It’s good to see him on deck, being responsive, and coming on board so soon after being elected.”
Sharpe said the investigation and review into the health of the Darling-Baaka River would probably be carried out by the NSW chief scientist, Prof Hugh Durrant-Whyte.
Sharpe committed to ensuring that community knowledge was better incorporated into future management of the system.
“We will listen to the scientists, and we will listen to the experts … there is a lot of local knowledge here, they have been here a long time and they know what this looks like and we think we can draw on that too,” Sharpe said.
“I’ve been here in drought, I’ve been here in flood and I’ve been here now with what’s going on with the fish kill. This is an ecological disaster, but it is also a really serious matter for every single person in this community.”
For a few of the most tireless campaigners for the health of the Darling-Baaka, the change in government and the snap visit to Menindee had increased the level of optimism among locals.
Out of 245 votes at the Menindee Civic Hall at last weekend’s state election, Butler received 116 first preference votes while Labor’s Joshua Roberts-Garnsey received 96 and the National party’s Annette Turner received 11 votes.
The Tolarno station owner and river campaigner Rob McBride is hoping the change will bring “integrity” back to the river.
“It’s absolutely astoundingly brilliant – we are so happy that Chris, Rose and Penny are going to change the river system and it could not be in better hands – we are so lucky, it’s bloody brilliant.”
The Menindee resident and fellow river advocate Dick Arnold said that he was also hopeful the government would get the balance right to stop the destruction of the environment that he had witnessed in recent years.
“It really does your heart good, because we really need it out here, for people to start looking at everything a bit closer and to feel as though you have someone you can trust, to have someone that will look at the science of everything and to stop this absolute terrible destruction of the Darling-Baaka.”
Otis Filley is a freelance journalist and film-maker based in Broken Hill
