It was announced earlier today that Singapore-based agribusiness corporation Olam International has acquired the almond plantations of failed MIS operator, Timbercorp, at a price well-below bargain basement.

Olam is already a major player in Australia’s water market, being the owner of Queensland Cotton.

The sale includes the acquisition of “rights” to 40,000 megalitres of water, “worth” in excess of $100 million. The value that Olam attaches to the almond crop itself is clear: the total amount it paid for the 8,000 hectares of plantations, including the price of the water rights, was $128 million.

Australia will continue to lose control of its water resources until such time as the Commonwealth Government rescinds the 1994 decision of the Council of Australian Governments "to implement a strategic framework to achieve an efficient and sustainable water industry", emphasising "the adoption of pricing regimes based on the principles of consumption-based pricing"; in essence, privatisation of the nation’s water.

The following is a draft of a submission prepared by the Australian Water Network, in consultation with FWU.

RATIONALE FOR INCLUSION OF REFERENCE TO RIGHT TO WATER WITHIN A PROPOSED BILL OF RIGHTS.

The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in its 22 May, 2009 report expressed concern about the negative impact of climate change on the right to an adequate standard of living, including on the right to water, affecting in particular indigenous peoples, in spite of the State Party’s recognition of the challenges imposed by climate change.

The following has been lifted from the website, watermakesmoney.com, and is of great relevance to Australians as Veolia is the conglomerate that is involved in the construction and operation of many of the infrastructure waterworks being undertaken by many of our State Governments. Have any of them really done their home-work?

The Australian Water Network will link activists, academics and community groups from all over Australia who are working in their local communities and states on the water crisis facing this country.

The Network will expose and challenge Government water policies which are failing to serve the common good; and promote ideas and strategies more likely to secure a sustainable water future.

"This is an historic day for Australia" said Maude Barlow, Senior Advisor on Water to the President of the UN General Assembly. "Consecutive governments, both Federal and State, have yet to recognise and respond to the Australian water crisis with a cohesive plan. They rely on the false gods of private markets and energy guzzling technologies as the crisis deepens into a national emergency.

"The Australian Water Network will fight for the public control of water.

We will do all in our power to ensure water-flows for threatened ecosystems. This new voice in Australia will turn the tide on the water crisis."

Contact information:

Bernard Eddy

Convenor

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Mob: 0447 605 057