Audio

• The draft of the Murray Darling Basin Plan, one economist's view: a refreshingly clear perspective on how development of the Plan has been severely compromised by political expediency and the interests of a small but powerful section of the irrigation sector:  Radio 774 ABC Melbourne: 31st October 2011: [listen here]
  
• The dangers of not owning our own water: Since the drought broke, water has ceased to be such a divisive topic, but water privatisation and the building of desalination plants are still hot topics. The Millenium drought may have finally broken but more needs to be done to prevent the devastation that occurred in the past from happening again. Story Includes: Ian Douglas, National Coordinator of Fair Water Use Australia; Adrian Pederick, South Australian shadow minister for Agriculture: The Wire, 18th May 2011: [listen here]
  
• Putting a value on the Murray River: A new report calculates the national value of a healthy river Murray: ABC Bush Telegraph, 6th December 2010: [listen here]
  
• The Murray-Darling Basin: Is consensus possible?: The concerns of Basin communities regarding the Basin Plan Guide could have been assuaged with improved communication on all sides. Professor Chris Miller shares his thoughts: ABC Radio National, 23rd October 2010: [listen here]
  
• Desalination and water privatisation:  extended interview with Ian Douglas on Melbourne Talk Radio (MTR 1377), 30th August 2010, covering a range of relevant water topics:  [listen here]
• The Wong -  Joyce "debate" on ABC Radio 5AN: August 5th, 2010: The plight of the Murray-Darling seemed secondary to attempts at personal point-scoring in this largely meaningless interview: [listen here]
• The Big Water Debate:  This event allowed concerned South Australians to hear what steps the various political parties intend to take to secure the state's water supply subsequent to the upcoming state election: Presented by the Water Action Coalition (SA) and The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial  Centre (Uni SA): February 11th, 2010: [listen here]
  
• Who owns water?:  In December the High Court handed down a ruling in the ICM case. The giant agribusiness took the government to court over a change in the groundwater allocation scheme which saw its water allocation decline by 70%: The Law Report, ABC Radio National: January 26, 2010: [listen here]
  
• Cubbie Station: water for sale? - Radio interview with Arlene Buchan (Australian Conservation Foundation) and Ian Douglas (FWU) on this complex issue: The Wire, October 15, 2009: [listen here]
• South Australia's water crisis makes headlines internationally: The Guardian On-line (UK), September 29, 2009: [listen here]
  
• FWU Coordinator, Ian Douglas, and the CEO of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, Rob Freeman, discuss concerns about the composition of the Basin Community Committee recently appointed by the MDBA, specifically what FWU perceives as the over-representation of groups connected with unsustainable irrigation practices: ABC Radio, August 11, 2009: [listen here]
• Extended interview with FWU coordinator, Ian Douglas, during which he is asked to expand on FWU's concerns and policies for the Murray-Darling Basin, as well as the actual aims of governments and corporations actively driving the water-privatisation agenda in Australia and overseas: ABC Radio, July 28, 2009: [listen here]
• The Constitution and the Murray-Darling Rivers: Send in the Litigators?  - Presentation by Professor John Williams, University of Adelaide, October 13, 2008: [listen here]
  
• Maude Barlow, founder of the Blue Planet Project discusses the global future of water: Bush Telegraph, ABC Radio National, August 28, 2008: [listen here]
• Penny Wong states there is no more that she can do; Fair Water Use refutes this and indicates the need for decisive action:ABC Radio, August 6, 2008: [listen here]
  
• John Grabbe (Cubbie Group) and Ian Douglas (FWU): ABC Radio July 3, 2008: [listen here]
• Keith De Lacy (Cubbie) and Ian Douglas (FWU) on Cubbie Expansion: ABC Radio June 28, 2008  [listen here]
• The Coorong on life support: David Paton, Associate Professor, Dept of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide: [listen here]

Video

• More than just a volume of water: MDBA Chair, Craig Knowles, most recent attempt to promote his compromised version of the Basin Plan. A word that barely rates a mention in the entire presentation is "environment": 20th September 2011: [Video link here]
• Is environmentalism failing?: A panel of leading environmentalists, including David Suzuki, discuss progress made in efforts to promote meaningful action on climate change: [Video link here]
• The Gas Rush: A revealing and frightening ABC Four Corners report on the environmental vandalism being perpetrated in our backyard (sometimes literally) by companies involved in coal gas seam mining: [Video link here]
• The fight for water: Australia is not alone in facing  threats posed by water privatisation: Ian Douglas, coordinator of FWU, was guest speaker (via internet) at a recent seminar on the proposed privatisation of water in the Canadian state of Alberta: [Video link here]
  
• Water On The Table is a character-driven, social-issue documentary  featuring “international water-warrior” Maude Barlow. The film asks the question: Is water a commercial good like running shoes or Coca-Cola? Or, is water a human right like air?: [Video link here]
• Water trading causes tension between Vic, SA: Yet another example of the standard of communication and cooperation  between Basin States. Is it any wonder that calls for a Commonwealth takeover persist?: ABC News, April 26, 2010: [Video link here]
• Floodwater mismanagement: Interview with Prof Mike Young confirms that, despite potentially life-saving inflows into the upper Darling catchment, the interests of the Basin States will largely take precedence over restoration of the system as a whole: ABC Stateline Queensland, March 5th, 2010:  [Video link here]
• Cubbie Station in voluntary liquidation - the usual scapegoating from Cubbie Group Chairman and one-time Queensland Treasurer, Keith De Lacy, who continues to blame weather conditions, activists and politicians for the demise of his white elephant, rather than accept that cotton is a totally in appropriate crop to be growing in a semi-arid environment: ABC News, October 29, 2009: [Video link here]
• Nukkan Kungun Yunnan -  Ngarrindjeri's Being Heard : This powerful YouTube documentary presents the real impact the water crisis is having on the Coorong and its people. Driven by Ngarrindjeri youth it examines the effects on Ngarrindjeri culture as well as the damage for all Australians: February 2009: [Video link here]
  
• "A Problem To Close To Ignore": striking images of the environmental and social decay arising from the mismanagement of the Murray-Darling Basin: September 17, 2009 [Video link here]
  
• "Topher's Unpopular View": A cutting and accurate analysis of the cynical reasoning behind Victorian Premier Brumby's north-south pipe line: May 26, 2009 [Video link here]
  
• Joint ACF / IRN report confirms Murray-Darling wetlands in plight Basin-wide: ABC TV News: October 22, 2008 [Video link here]
• "Four Corners" investigation into the background to the crisis. Given the cowboy attitude of many of the major players, especially the Queensland Water Minister, it is hardly surprising that the Basin is in its current condition: ABC TV: October 20, 2008 [Video Link here]
• "Dire outlook for Murray-Darling Basin" (Telling portions of this ABC report are the brief interviews with locals including grazier, Neville Crisp) ABC Lateline, September 2, 2008 [Video Link here]
• Desalination plants: A solution to water shortages or drain on the environment?: Opinions voiced by experts from the University of Adelaide: August 17, 2008 [Video Link here]
• Images revealing the current state of the Lower Murray, courtesy of the ABC: [Video Link here]
  
• A reminder that it's not only the Murray-Darling that is suffering as a result of the exploitation of Australia's natural resources: [Video Link here]
• New deadline to save Murray Darling - Lateline report ABC TV July 2, 2008:

• Realities of Rudd's Murray water buy back sink in' - 7.30 Report ABC TV May 21, 2008:
  Zero available water is still zero available water, irrespective of who owns the allocation. Meanwhile the cotton corporates are swimming in water that they have impounded - water which would otherwise be flowing down the Darling...