Current data obtained by FWU from the Murray-Darling Basin Commission and relevant State water authorities reveal that around 4,000 gigalitres of water is currently held in public storage in the Murray-Darling Basin: including Menindee: 510 gl; Dartmouth: 730 gl; Hume: 620 gl; Eildon: 562 gl; Burrunjuck: 450 gl; Blowering: 650  gl. This total is increasing following recent, but by no means drought-breaking, rains in south-eastern Australia.

The volume currently impounded by private enterprise is estimated at 1,000 gigalitres (predominantly in the upper Darling catchment).

We are advised that the Federal Government has the constitutional authority to assume control of Murray-Darling water, including this total of around 5000 gigalitres currently impounded. It is therefore not unreasonable to ask Senator Wong why she has made no decisive moves to acquire the 1,500 gigalitres that the CSIRO tells us is urgently required by the system if it is to be given a reasonable chance of restoration.

It is interesting to note that that the CSIRO has determined that 1500 gigalitres is urgently required by the Murray-Darling to prevent its short-term collapse. Recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics indicates that cotton-growers in the Murray-Darling basin consumed this volume in 2005-6.

Given the above, the Federal Government should move without delay to compulsorily acquire water from the massive private impoundments in the upper Darling region, in addition to that able to be sourced from reserves held by the States.

For those who have an interest in the scale of earthworks undertaken in the Upper Darling region by major  irrigators, courtesy of Google Earth, FWU can take you to  one such development, at Cubbie Station. The image below shows merely ONE INLET to the THIRTY THREE THOUSAND HECTARES of irrigated cotton country owned by the Cubbie Group - on this the driest continent on the planet.

To take a tour of this huge water-sucking enterprise, simply copy and paste the following coordinates into the "Fly To" window of Google Earth and you will see for yourself the lengths to which the Cubbie Group has gone to ensure that water is diverted from the nation's rivers into their irrigation system:  -28.6117048382 148.005713781 (don't forget the "-" )

This is only one example of the diversion channels put in place by organisations which  have the temerity to state publicly that they have an "almost negligible" impact on the Murray-Darling. 

If you feel motivated by this image you may care to contact the following entities and individuals who are invested in these selfish and destructive activities:

Tell them what you think.....

CUBBIE:  

Chairman  Keith De Lacy: Fax: 61 7 3229 1776 ; Director: Peter Forbes: Fax: 61 7 3360 3986

Joint managing directors: John Grabbe, Paul Brimblecombe: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it    

CUBBIE'S MAIN FINANCIERS:

National Australia Bank:
Ric Shadforth: Media Relations Business Partner - Agribusiness: +61 (0)2 9237 1518 / +61 (0)447 395 889 or via  http://www.nabgroup.com/0,,33879,00.html

 Suncorp: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
 

- We CAN make a difference: Remember ANZ's response to the Anti-Gunns Campaign.

Please consider forwarding this information to your email contacts list, asking them to add their support.

July 13th 2008 

New data from Murray-Darling Basin Commission reveals that, despite excellent rains in the upper Darling catchment over the last nine months, total inflows into the Murray are at historical lows; and we know that the Darling itself is barely flowing at present.

Currently the situation may be exacerbated by drought, but it cannot be argued that the only solution is for this drought to break. FWU believes that the vast majority of the national electorate will no longer accept the reluctance of Prime Minister Rudd to use the emergency powers that his office bestows to compulsorily acquire and release the recommended 1500 gigalitres of impounded water that is currently being denied the rivers  - as a result of vested political or corporate interests.

We urge Mr Rudd to rise above the endemic obfuscation and prevarication and take decisive action to address the problem in the short-term. The vast area that used to be the nation's bread-basket is literally dying as it waits for him to do so.

However, the rivers will never run as they should thereafter unless Governments also step in and radically reduce or reclaim water "rights", especially those granted in a less than transparent manner to big business buddies of the National Party. This would also encourage the cultivation of less water-hungry crops throughout the basin.

The Federal Government has a mandate from the electorate to redress the mistakes of the past. It owes the country no less.

Could this mark the beginning of the end for Australian cotton?  [FULL STORY HERE]

Industrial hemp is a step closer to becoming a new production crop in NSW, following the passing of the Hemp Industry Bill 2008 through the NSW Upper House last week: [FULL STORY HERE] 

The following is an extract from the itinerary of a tour offered by "Down Under Coach Tours". A very accurate description of a property which, according to Cubbie chairman Keith De Lacy, has an "almost negligible" impact on the river system:

"DAY 3 ST GEORGE - CUBBIE STATION

Sunday 13th April: A full day touring Dirranbandi and surrounds. Today we enjoy a guided tour of the famous Cubbie Station. Cubbie Station is the largest privately-owned irrigation layout in Australia covering over 200,000 acres. Cubbie Station has few rivals anywhere in the world, and its massive water storage has created controversy in a dry land. The full extent of Cubbie's massive storage facilities are revealed during our tour with huge storage dams that stretch for 28 continuous kilometres down the trickle that is the Culgoa (or later Darling) River. Feeding this 12,000 hectares of water is a diversion channel wide enough to take a landing light aircraft, perched like an open mouth above a weir over the river. Cubbie Station has enough water capacity to more than swallow the waters of Sydney Harbour. Cubbie grows about 13,000 hectares of irrigated cotton and brings in about $50 million a year. After our awe-inspiring tour enjoy lunch under the shade of the trees next to the homestead."

Unfortunately the next tour is not scheduled until the Autumn of 2009.

[FULL ITINERARY HERE] 

In the course of the recent ABC Radio National interview with Keith De Lacy (Chairman of the Cubbie Group) and Ian Douglas of Fair Water Use, 28th June 2008,  Mr De Lacy informed listeners that his group was responsible for the extraction of less than 0.2 % of flows from the system. This apparently paltry amount does not sit too well with the well-known fact that Cubbie?s combined water storages have a capacity in excess of 500 gigalitres: more than one third of that required to revive the Murray-Darling system.

Fair Water Use is privy to information which questions whether Mr De Lacy?s comments are in fact an accurate assessment of the impact of the Cubbie Group, inasmuch as the 0.2% figure may only factor-in water that is extracted directly from the river system itself.  We are informed that the vast majority of the water they impound has been prevented from entering the system by massive earthworks that they have undertaken, and continue to develop, on the flood plains, now acting as a tourniquet on flows into the headwaters of the Darling.

If this is indeed the case, it is totally inappropriate for Mr De Lacy and his board to state that Cubbie has an ?almost negligible? impact on the Murray-Darling system and to continue their arrogant rejection of the increasing body of opinion which condemns their untenable exploitation of the nation?s water resources, virtually donated to the group less than a decade ago.

Fair Water Use urges the Cubbie Group to clarify this issue as a matter of urgency prior to the upcoming COAG meeting: Australians deserve no less.

[ABC RADIO NATIONAL SEGMENT: AUDIO] 

We have been informed by a reliable source that Cubbie and at least one other large cotton property may be about to be purchased by a Chinese consortium. 

If this is indeed the case, it would be an utter indictment of the Federal Government's attempts to address the Murray-Darling crisis. Fair Water Use would sincerely hope that, if the Government was aware that such properties were indeed up for sale, it would make every effort to purchase them on behalf of the population and environment of Australia.

Cubbie Station alone irrigates 14-thousand hectares of cotton, and can store nearly 500 gigalitres of water, which is bigger than many Queensland Government dams. 

Report by the South Australian Murray-Darling Basin Natural Resource Management Board

April 2008

<<EXTRACT>> 

The long-term reduced flows have reduced the resilience of this system to harsh conditions such as the current drought and have left it on the brink of ecological collapse. The record low inflows for the River Murray into South Australia have accelerated the ecological decline of the region to such an extent that species are unable to adapt to the changes with some endangered native fish now only surviving in captivity.

The habitat condition decline has resulted in major ecological impacts including the localised loss or decline of native fish species, tortoise deaths due to an invasive species, declining frog and bird numbers, and negative impacts on vegetation in and around the Lakes. There is a shift in ecological state occurring and further predicted decreases in water level in the Lower Lakes could result in salinities and acidity that destroys their entire ecological character. The decline in ecological character can only be halted and reversed if substantial freshwater inflows are received within the next six months.