Fair Water Use proposes Royal Commission of Enquiry
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
Fair Water Use has made two submissions to the Senate inquiry into water management in the Coorong and Lower Lakes, for consideration as amendments to the Emergency Water (Murray-Darling Basin Rescue) Bill 2008.
This submission calls for the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry and proposes its terms of reference: [Link to pdf version]
The False Definition of "Water Savings"
Monday, 10 August 2009
The following is a summary of one section of a discussion paper authored by Kevin Long & Chris Poynton, entitled THE CHANNEL LINING AND PIPELINE DECEPTION IN VICTORIA’S NORTHERN FOODBOWL PROJECT, which exposes the likely impacts of Victoria’s Northern Foodbowl Project.
"The extraction of water via North-South Pipeline clearly increases the over-allocation already occurring in the Murray-Darling Basin. Any allocation delivered to Melbourne directly reduces the volume of water available for allocation to irrigators and the environment.
The following is an extract from the Victorian Hansard, July 29, 2009:
"Water: government performance:
Ms ASHER (Brighton) — I urge the Victorian government, particularly the Minister for Water, to look at South Australia’s recent water policy, released in June 2009, for some ideas, seeing as it has none. In South Australia there is a commitment to increased recycling and increased stormwater harvesting. This is in comparison to Victoria, which has now abandoned its recycling commitments. The government has done a complete about-face on water policy since the 2006 state election.
Below is a copy of the letter received in response to our first letter (see below) to the Prime Minister in which we made the simple request that he inform Australians whether he felt the Murray-Darling crisis was of sufficient concern to warrant declaration of a state-of-emergency, and, if he did not feel that this was the case, to state the reasons why he believed that the issue did not justify such action.
Far from providing the requested response, the Federal Government does not
even acknowledge the question.
Fair Water Use would like
to draw your attention to the Drought Update released today by the Murray
Darling Basin Authority, which clearly indicates that, without clear and decisive action on behalf
of your Government, the future for what was once the bread-basket of this nation
is bleak.
We
would like to emphasise statements ascribed therein to Chief Executive of the
MDBA, Mr Rob Freeman:
“Despite good rainfall in the north of the Basin during February,
the Menindee Lakes received only about 190 GL from the Darling River, increasing
the storage level to about 15 per cent of capacity.”
Please ask yourself why this might be the case; and in so-doing
consider the impact of the vast and frequently illegal diversions and
impoundments constructed in the Darling
catchment.
“The persistence and severity of this drought, particularly over the
past three years, is unprecedented. All three States have set aside enough water
to meet critical human water needs in 2009-10, but the prospects for irrigation
will be highly dependent on future rainfall and system
inflows.”
As
coordinator of this national group, I would like to enquire whether you are
giving urgent consideration to:
1) the declaration of a State of
Emergency to enable your Government to override the self interest of the States
and allow meaningful action to be taken to address the multiple, non-drought,
causes of the crisis.
2) the establishment of a Royal Commission of
Enquiry into the management and governance of the Murray-Darling Basin: past,
present and future.
If you are not contemplating the above actions, we
would ask you to detail the reasons why you feel that the crisis does not
justify such an approach.
