MPs must show courage
The federal Member for Nicholls, Damian Drum, accepts we have serious flaws with the Basin Plan. He expressed concern last week that we are prioritising fish over farmers, and highlighted the fact that we are wasting 800 to 900 gigalitres of water a year through evaporation in the Lower Lakes.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
We keep filling the lakes with precious fresh water, despite a recent scientific report which tells us they were traditionally estuarine.
The NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro quite correctly says it's time for South Australia to pull its weight with the Basin Plan.
The NSW Water Minister, Melinda Pavey, wants to know why we are using valuable stored water (from Hume and Dartmouth dams) for Adelaide's water supply, when the federal government funded a desalination plant for the SA capital.
"The desalination plant in Adelaide needs to be ramped up to full production now," she said, as this would mean 100 less gigalitres would be taken from the Murray-Darling (which, in fact, is just the Murray), for Adelaide and it could be used to ease the plight of NSW Murray irrigators who are on zero allocation
One Nation senators have also been highlighting the madness of the current approach, with Senator Malcolm Roberts lamenting that we have sent huge quantities of fresh water straight past farmers "to South Australia to evaporate in a naturally marine estuary, artificially made into a freshwater lake".
So why, then, do we have a federal Water Minister stating the plan is a "compromise ... which provides communities with certainty", when everyone with knowledge of the plan and the basin knows this couldn't be further from the truth?
That was not long before his Agriculture Minister Bridget McKenzie stated the plan has been developed "to ensure those communities that live and raise families in basin communities can look forward to a sustainable and prosperous future". Who is she trying to kid?
Then we have the Environment Minister Sussan Ley (also Member for Farrer, which is the heart of the nation's food bowl, but where farmers have a zero water allocation).
So what is she doing to protect her constituents, after telling them constantly during the election campaign that water was her number one priority?
Read more letters:
Well, you tell me and we'll both know.
It would appear that those who sit around the Cabinet table - Littleproud, McKenzie, Ley etc - have been told the Basin Plan is too hot to touch. Let's hope it rains and the problem will go away, seems to be their approach.
But it won't go away. It's an unmitigated disaster and will remain a disaster until they pluck up the courage to fix it.
Paul Pierotti, Griffith Business Chamber water spokesman
Key question to answer
Before I put my two bob's worth in on Councillor Vanessa Keenan and her fellow councillors' plan to raise rates to pay for the pending climate change disaster, I have one question to ask.
Do Councillor Keenan and her followers walk, ride pushbikes, car pool or use individual vehicles to get to and from work and council meetings?
I think I may know the answer.
Peter Dolden, Wagga
HAVE YOUR SAY: Do you have something to get off your chest? Click here to send your letter to the editor.