The Findings and Recommendations section of the draft report by the Productivity Commission, Market Mechanisms for Recovering Water, details the successes and failures of the water recovery plan for the Murray-Darling.  It is highly critical of the expenditure of billions of taxpayers dollars by the Basin States on huge and unnecessary infrastructure projects. 

Excellent rains have provided welcome relief for the Murray-Darling. 

However, unless we learn from our mistakes, and more importantly those made by the administrations and institutions responsible for the river system, it will only be a matter of a few short years before the situation is as grim as it was until recently. 

We have provided The Hon Tony Burke, the new Minister with responsibility for water, with a copy of this document and await his comments.

In response to the latest grim Drought Update from the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, the Federal Water Minister has issued a statement in which she continues the it's all about drought  mantra and also uses the crisis to push the ineffectual CPRS that the Prime Minister wishes to parade in Copenhagen.

FWU has contacted Senator Wong to remind her that it is no more all about climate change than it is all about drought. These are indeed major global issues which are impacting on the Murray-Darling. But she can be quite justifiably accused of dereliction of duty in implying that we must largely rely on the Commonwealth's "Water For the Future" plan to address the worsening situation in the Basin.

What is urgently required is for the Prime Minister to declare of a State of Emergency, prior to leaving on his Scandinavian trip, to enable the Federal Government to remove the Basin States and the ACT from the broken chain of command and apply a radical rethink to management, placing the environmental health of the river system and security of public water supply above those of vested interests.

It would also earn Mr Rudd some much-needed environmental Brownie points at the summit.

The Water Action Coalition, of which Fair Water Use is a member organisation, has made a submission to the State Premier requesting that his government reviews its current water policies and looks to more equitable and environmentally appropriate methods of water management. The submission may be viewed HERE

WAC has also issued a proclamation arising from the recent rally in Adelaide, which will be read out in both Houses of the South Australian Parliament this week. The proclamation may be viewed HERE