9th September 2009

In the last week, two more Australian rivers have been attacked as part of the water crusades being waged by state governments.

Fair Water Use notes the absence of formal comment from the Australian Conservation Foundation on these new instances of state-sponsored eco-vandalism and also regrets that the Foundation appears to have jumped into bed with the Brumby Government on the issue of the North-South Pipeline, an initiative recently described by the UN senior advisor on water issues as “about the stupidest idea I've come across in a long, long time”.

It is to be hoped that a quid-pro-quo deal has been struck with the Victorian Government, which will lead to major and sustained environmental benefit. If this is the case, FWU encourages the ACF to release full details. If not, it must expect resounding and justified criticism from many quarters.

Details of the latest water-pillaging are as follows:

The NSW Government has indicated that it intends to cut off the flow of the Lachlan River below Condobolin; an action that will devastate wetlands in the lower reaches of the river and prevent the release of water arising from the Commonwealth Government’s purchase of 52 billion litres of Lachlan water entitlements in its effort to improve the health of the Murray-Darling river system.

Yesterday the errant Victorian Water Minister quietly announced that, in its never ending quest for “new” water for the state capital and in breach of yet another electoral promise, the Brumby Government intends to deprive the already struggling Thomson River of another 10 billion litres annually, on top a similar amount already extracted under “contingency” provisions.  Meanwhile it makes no meaningful effort to conserve over 500 mm of rain which falls annually across metropolitan Melbourne, up to 90% of which currently flows directly to the sea as “storm-water”.

These further examples of the reason why state governments can no longer be entrusted with management of the nation’s water resources are cited with reference to the role of the ACF, whose stated philosophy includes seeking “a society that changes our relationship to the earth to one of harmony with the environment: from one of dominance to partnership; from fragmentation to connection; from insecurity to interdependence”.

Far from acting as Australia’s environmental conscience and watchdog, of late the ACF has been demonstrating behaviour more reminiscent of the Basenji: a canine breed noted for its ineffectual bark.