Yesterday, as a nation, we joined the likes of the USA, UK and Canada in abstaining from registering a vote on a resolution tabled at the United Nations.
Ordinarily, this would be of little significance in itself, given the fact that the UN habitually requires members to vote on issues infused with polarised opinion. However, the motion under discussion was nothing as contentious as criticism of the activities of foreign military forces or the tightening of sanctions against rogue states.
In essence, the proposed UN resolution merely required member states to support “the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of the right to life.”
Why therefore should any genuine democracy require more than a nanosecond to support such a worthy proposition?
A report by the Auditor General of Victoria indicates that the widely criticised water supply and irrigation projects of the Brumby Government were ineptly researched and are reliant upon unproven technology.
What little public support remained for these misguided initiatives must surely evaporate, as dramatically as the water savings previously touted by the arrogant pairing that is the Victorian Premier and Water Minister.
Productivity Commission draft report: Current infrastructure projects no solution to water crisis
Thursday, 10 December 2009
TheFindings 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.
National State of Emergency Commission and National Commission of Inquiry
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
TERMS OF REFERENCE RELEASED
In response to the ongoing crisis, Fair Water Use commissioned Consultants in Quality Pty Ltd to draft terms of reference for both a National State of Emergency Commission (SOE) and a National Public Commission of Inquiry into the Murray-Darling crisis (NPCI).
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.
Advocating environmentally-responsible use of Murray-Darling water
Fair Water Use (Australia) is a lobby group formed by everyday Australians who share the vision of a revived Murray-Darling basin and the sustainable environmental, community and economic benefits that would flow from its recovery.
