Failed governance and the demise of the Darling

Latest data from the Murray-Darling Basin Authority and the Bureau of Meteorology continue to refute the statement by Queensland Cotton CEO, Richard Haire, that “if you look at the problem in the Murray-Darling Basin, the problem systems aren’t the Darling-based systems; the problem systems are the Murray-based systems”.

Despite average to well-above-average rainfall in much of the Darling catchment in recent years, in contrast to the seriously drought-affected Murray catchment, storage levels in the Menindee Lakes are now at an all time seasonal low of 12%, whereas even the Hume reservoir is now at 39% capacity after winter rains in the southern part of the Basin.

It is apparent that Queensland Cotton and other profligate water users in the upper Darling are still in denial of the fact that they are largely responsible for the continuing lamentable condition of the river and the critical depletion of its groundwater reserves, to the point where the system has no ability to resist the effect of their activities and the river is essentially a chain of stagnant pools.

Earlier this month, the National Water Commission last week roundly criticised all Basin States and the ACT for their failure to work together to improve water management in the Basin.

Australia is still waiting for the Commonwealth to assume total responsibility for governance of the Murray-Darling Basin in-line with its stated commitment to the environment – a major factor in its success at the last federal election.

Water Action Coalition – Call to action

This is a special notice to Water Action Coalition supporters to let you know about the WAC rally planned for Saturday 10^th October 2009. With a state election only a few months away the rally seeks to let the politicians and media know that the community is fed up with current water policy & management in South Australia. We demand to be heard and we demand policy change. We have had enough of the disastrous management of our water, our rights in South Australia which is having devastating consequences on our place, our communities and our quality of life. Water is a public trust connected to everything, itself, our ecosystems, our societies and our economies and should not be owned and privatised.

This is a WAC “Call For Action” Rally that culminates on the steps of Parliament House North Terrace involving 10 to 12  community groups from around the state to tell their stories and to collectively demand both Local, State and Federal Governments take action. There is a sense of urgency to immediately establish a National Commission to coordinate a State of Emergency in the Murray-Darling Basin and to establish a complementing National Public Commission of Inquiry into water management, conservation, recycling and sharing of all water resources. There is a sense of urgency needed to save Adelaide Coastal Waters, Upper Spencer Gulf, The Murray and Lower Lakes.

The Rally is planned to start at 12 PM, take approximately one hour and feature media personalities and community leaders. Representatives from WAC community groups will be interviewed to tell their stories to the public of South Australia and consequences of current government policies. The rally will feature theatre and music. Politicians will be invited to respond. There will be a Message of Hope and a Rally Proclamation of what needs to be done by WAC.

This Rally can not be a success without your support and the WAC organising committee requests an indication of how you can help? i.e. helping with promotion and publicity to your members, subscribers & public. Help with donations to cover the costs of staging the rally. Please also let us know if your group plans to attend the rally, likely numbers, how you plan to arrive and if you wish to be acknowledged on the day. Now is the time to start to organise your action and banners.

The Rally Convenor is Jim Douglas and he can be contacted jdouglas@picknowl.com.au or Mob 0417 875 232 or alternatively contact the WAC Convenor John Caldecott (details below).

The WAC Rally E-mail message below may be cut and pasted into your E-mails news bulletins and a copy of a Colour A4 version and A5 B&W poster are attached for your use and distribution on your websites or notice boards. Other variants such as an A3 Colour Poster and A4 B&W Poster will be available from the WAC Events website for your use. The Charter, Call to Action and Brochure can all be downloaded from Water Action Coalition. If you wish to be publicly acknowledged as a supporter of WAC and you are not already please contact the Convenor.

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Rally to demand action

Steps of Parliament House

Saturday, 10th October 2009, 12 Noon

All members of the public, community and environmental groups welcomed

OUR WATER OUR RIGHTS

OPPOSE

Water Privatisation, Dams and Desalination

DEMAND

Water Conservation, Stormwater, Wastewater Recycling and Fair Share of Water from Murray-Darling Basin

More Information

Google “Water Action Coalition”

Posters can be downloaded from Our Water Our Rights website

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Prepared on behalf of Water Action Coalition
John Caldecott

Convenor
Mob 0427 976 503 E-mail jec@ciq.com.au

UNITED WATER ON THE NOSE – AND OUT OF TIME

JOINT OPEN LETTER TO THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN PREMIER

Three of Australia’s largest water advocacy groups today applauded the South Australian Government for not ruling out removing control of Adelaide’s water supply from the private sector.

In a joint communiqué (attached) from the Australian Water Network, Fair Water Use (Australia) and South Australian umbrella group the Water Action Coalition, Mr Rann was encouraged to openly oppose the privatisation of water, including that of the Murray-Darling, and allow South Australians to voice their opinion via the ballot box next year.

Spokesman, Dr Ian Douglas, stated this morning, “South Australians now have the opportunity to be the first electorate to require that our dwindling water resources are protected from open-market profiteering and are protected as a public good.”

Contacts:

John Caldecott

Convenor

Water Action Coalition

Tel: 0427-976503

Ian Douglas

Coordinator

Fair Water Use (Australia)

Tel: 0416-022178

Authorised by:

Ginny Brown

Media Coordinator

media@fairwateruse.com.au

PM urged to take acting lessons from Californian Governor

Comparison of the water crises currently gripping California and the Murray-Darling Basin reveals stark similarities in their causes and effects, but a glaring contrast in the willingness of those in high office to act appropriately, according to Australia’s largest public water rights advocacy group.

Fair Water Use (Australia) has scrutinised the Proclamation of a State of Emergency, issued earlier this year by Californian Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, in response to the Californian crisis and has defined that many of the parameters which were sufficient to cause the Californian administration to act are exceeded in severity and duration by those which apply in the Murray-Darling Basin.

“More and more Australians are stunned by apparent inability of the Commonwealth Government to take meaningful action on this issue,” national coordinator of Fair Water Use, Ian Douglas, said earlier today.

Dr Douglas added, “We have provided the Prime Minister with a draft proclamation, incorporating the concerns which were sufficient for the State of California to apply the necessary, urgent measures and comparing them directly to those which apply in the Basin.”

Fair Water Use hopes that this will convince Mr Rudd that the plight of the Murray-Darling is at least as grave as its Californian counterpart, requiring Canberra to make similarly decisive moves.

“We are urging the Prime-Minister to follow Governor Schwarzenegger’s lead by acting appropriately,” Dr Douglas concluded.

Contact:

Ian Douglas

(National Coordinator)

+61 (0)416-022178

Cut the crop please Minister

Today’s announcement that Cubbie Station is on the market came as no surprise to anyone who has been keeping track of the rise and fall of this environmentally destructive white elephant.

Fair Water Use encourages the Federal Government to become actively involved in negotiations surrounding the purchase of Cubbie, ensuring that any other potential purchasers are fully aware of the dodgy nature of the water “entitlements” that previously enabled its cultivation of inappropriate, water-intensive crops, but still failed to save it in the current drought.

Cubbie and several other large water-hoarding entities have taken full advantage of the highly-questionable and totally unsustainable water-allocation policies of the Queensland Government.

Senator Wong, who has been given the task of overseeing Australia’s water future, is on record as stating today: “As I understand it, the land and water entitlements for Cubbie are not separated, so that would create some problems in terms of purchasing water from Cubbie until those two entitlements are in fact separated.”

The senator’s apparent inability to override the actions of the Queensland Government on this vital issue is totally unacceptable and yet another demonstration of the chaos that exists, and will continue to prevail, as long as Basin States are involved in the governance and administration of the Murray-Darling, failing to put the overall health of the nation’s bread-basket ahead of their conflicting, politically-driven interests.

Any prospective purchasers of Cubbie Station must be made aware that the absurd and environmentally-destructive water entitlements currently associated with the property are as insecure as the credibility of those who granted them.

Fair Water Use repeats its call for an urgent Federal take-over of the management of the Murray-Darling Basin.

Contact:

Ian Douglas

(National Coordinator)

+61 (0)416-022178

Authorised by:

Ginny Brown

Media Coordinator

media@fairwateruse.com.au

MDBA Community Committee: which community does it represent?

Yesterday’s inaugural meeting of the Basin Community Committee, established by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, would not have been greeted with much enthusiasm by the majority of the community which it seeks to represent, according to national coordinator of Fair Water Use (Australia), Ian Douglas.

Dr Douglas stated this morning that, “the credibility of this committee is seriously compromised from the outset, as its sixteen-strong membership includes at least four individuals with a clear connection to the broad-acre irrigation of inappropriate, water-hungry crops, the very agricultural activity that has had a profoundly negative impact on the health of the Basin and thereby the welfare of its communities.”

He continued, “It is of concern to Fair Water Use that the resume of Guy Roth, published in yesterday’s media release from the MDBA, described him as an agricultural and resource specialist and made no mention of the fact that until recently, Mr Roth held the post of CEO of the Australian Cotton CRC, a group whose stated mission is to “undertake collaborative research, education and commercialisation activities to provide innovative knowledge that is adopted for the benefit of the Australian Cotton Industry”.”

“As the prime role of the committee is to gather information on the Basin Plan, especially the community response to its components, it is essential that the community is fully aware of the background of committee members”, Dr Douglas added.

Noting that committee members also include the current president of the Ricegrowers Association and the CEO of a large, privately-owned water provider, Dr Douglas added, “Fair Water Use is highly critical of the fact that the interests of all other sectors, including sustainable dry-land farming, tourism, conservation, indigenous and social concerns and the increasing percentage of the community who wish the nation’s water to be held in public trust and not privatised by stealth, must hope to be effectively represented by only eleven of the sixteen seats on the committee.”

Dr Douglas concluded, “It is entirely unacceptable that individuals who stand to benefit directly from the de-facto privatisation of Murray-Darling water hold at least one quarter of the seats on a committee that purports to be fully representative of the wide range of interests and activities severely affected by the Murray-Darling crisis.”

Fair Water Use repeats its call, now echoed by the United Nations’ senior adviser on water issues and an increasing number of groups and individuals concerned about Australia’s water future, for the Federal Government to declare a State of Emergency and establish a Royal Commission of Enquiry into the governance and management of the Basin. It awaits a response from the Prime Minister or Minister Wong.

Contact:

Ian Douglas

(National Coordinator)

+61 (0)416-022178

Authorised by:

Ginny Brown

Media Coordinator

media@fairwateruse.com.au

PRIME MINISTER MISSING IN INACTION

In response to today’s news that the Queensland government is considering activating sleeper licences to the Cooper Creek system, the coordinator of Fair Water Use (Australia), Dr Ian Douglas, is today reported as saying:  “The Rudd Government stands condemned for its failure to put an end to the dysfunctional and conflicting governance arrangements that have brought the Murray-Darling to its knees.”

He went on to say that “State premiers and water-ministers show no interest in looking at the big-picture and addressing the ever-increasing threat to Australia’s water future.”

Dr Douglas indicated that the evidence of the chaos continues to build chronologically:

• The Victorian Government’s imposition of a 4% cap on the trading of water licences out of the state

• Commencement of construction of the North-South Pipeline by the Brumby Government, a project described by the Senior Advisor on Water Issues to the President of the United Nations General Assembly as “about the stupidest idea that has ever been conceived”

• The decision of the Rann Government in SA to pursue High Court action against the Victorian cap

• The declaration of an NSW embargo on trading of water licences to prevent further purchase of environmental water by the Federal Government

• The statement by NSW Premier Rees that his government may join its SA counterpart in the High Court challenge

• The announcement by Victorian Premier Brumby of a slow and partial phase-out of the 4% cap in return for a $ 300 million cash pay-out from the Commonwealth

• Confirmation by SA Premier Rann that his government intends to persist with its High Court challenge

• The NSW government’s auction of water rights to the groundwater of the Great Artesian Basin, in direct conflict with the Federal Government’s Cap-and-Pipe initiative

• The environmental havoc being wreaked as a result of the Rann Government’s construction of water-regulators in the Lower Lakes

• The Queensland government’s reported intention to activating sleeper licences to the Cooper Creek system, which may have major environmental consequences and threaten the public water supply to the South Australian outback community of Innamincka

Dr Douglas’ statement concluded: “Fair Water Use will continue to lobby Mr Rudd until he supplies answers to vital questions that we and the senior water advisor to the United Nations have been asking him for many months; questions that all concerned Australians are entitled to pose”, namely:

1) Whether his Government is giving urgent consideration to the declaration of a State of Emergency to enable it to override the self interest of the States and allow meaningful action to be taken to address the multiple, non-drought, causes of the crisis?

2) Whether his Government is giving urgent consideration to the establishment of a Royal Commission of Enquiry into the management and governance of the Murray-Darling Basin: past, present and future?

3) If he is not contemplating the above actions, would he please detail the reasons why he believes that the crisis does not warrant such an approach?

Contact:

Ian Douglas

(National Coordinator)

+61 (0)416-022178

Authorised by:

Ginny Brown

Media Coordinator

media@fairwateruse.com.au

PRIME MINISTER MISSING IN INACTION

In response to today’s news that the Queensland government is considering activating sleeper licences to the Cooper Creek system, the coordinator of Fair Water Use (Australia), Dr Ian Douglas, is today reported as saying:  “The Rudd Government stands condemned for its failure to put an end to the dysfunctional and conflicting governance arrangements that have brought the Murray-Darling to its knees.”

He went on to say that “State premiers and water-ministers show no interest in looking at the big-picture and addressing the ever-increasing threat to Australia’s water future.”

Dr Douglas indicated that the evidence of the chaos continues to build chronologically:

• The Victorian Government’s imposition of a 4% cap on the trading of water licences out of the state

• Commencement of construction of the North-South Pipeline by the Brumby Government, a project described by the Senior Advisor on Water Issues to the President of the United Nations General Assembly as “about the stupidest idea that has ever been conceived”

• The decision of the Rann Government in SA to pursue High Court action against the Victorian cap

• The declaration of an NSW embargo on trading of water licences to prevent further purchase of environmental water by the Federal Government

• The statement by NSW Premier Rees that his government may join its SA counterpart in the High Court challenge

• The announcement by Victorian Premier Brumby of a slow and partial phase-out of the 4% cap in return for a $ 300 million cash pay-out from the Commonwealth

• Confirmation by SA Premier Rann that his government intends to persist with its High Court challenge

• The NSW government’s auction of water rights to the groundwater of the Great Artesian Basin, in direct conflict with the Federal Government’s Cap-and-Pipe initiative

• The environmental havoc being wreaked as a result of the Rann Government’s construction of water-regulators in the Lower Lakes

• The Queensland government’s reported intention to activating sleeper licences to the Cooper Creek system, which may have major environmental consequences and threaten the public water supply to the South Australian outback community of Innamincka

Dr Douglas’ statement concluded: “Fair Water Use will continue to lobby Mr Rudd until he supplies answers to vital questions that we and the senior water advisor to the United Nations have been asking him for many months; questions that all concerned Australians are entitled to pose”, namely:

1) Whether his Government is giving urgent consideration to the declaration of a State of Emergency to enable it to override the self interest of the States and allow meaningful action to be taken to address the multiple, non-drought, causes of the crisis?

2) Whether his Government is giving urgent consideration to the establishment of a Royal Commission of Enquiry into the management and governance of the Murray-Darling Basin: past, present and future?

3) If he is not contemplating the above actions, would he please detail the reasons why he believes that the crisis does not warrant such an approach?

Contact:

Ian Douglas

(National Coordinator)

+61 (0)416-022178

Authorised by:

Ginny Brown

Media Coordinator

media@fairwateruse.com.au

After 8 long years what has the Rann Labor Government Saved?

Just what is going to be saved by the spending of $3 billion with just 8 months to go before elections? Will it be Upper Spencer Gulf? Cheltenham Park? Adelaide Coastal Waters? South Coast of Adelaide? The River Murray? Family Irrigators? Lower Lakes? Coorong? South Australia is in a crisis of sustained environment insecurity.

Will Premier Mike Rann demand a State of Emergency in the Murray-Darling Basin, suspend the New National Water Market, and ensure enough freshwater flows over the border to ensure the sustainability of South Australia’s environment, society and economy?

The environmental degradation and vandalism could have been prevented. The Government failed to secure a fair share of the Murray during the long drought despite South Australian minimal diversions and efficient irrigation industry.

The total volume of water diverted from the Murray-Darling Basin in the eleven years since 1997 was approximately 97,824 GL and South Australia’s share of this water was a meagre 6% at an average of 549 GL/year for a total of 6,037 GL.

Adelaide’s average consumption of water is 80 GL from the River Murray and can be as low as 40 GL in a wet year and 200 GL in a drought. 95% of all water diverted in the basin is for irrigation and a significant amount of that is exported.

CSIRO’s Sustainability Yield’s Project concluded in 2008 that there was no threat to the water supply of SA towns and the city of Adelaide from any of its climate models out to 2030. It also found that levels in the Lower Lakes will not fall below sea level from the same models. South Australians have been cheated from their fair share of the Murray to create the new privatised National Water Market and to push up the price of water.

There has been systemic failure in the management of this drought, water privatisation has failed – it is inevitable that a Royal Commission must be held. We must get the future right for future generations and secure water as a public trust.

Fair Water Use (Australia) and WAC Supporter has posted Terms of Reference for both Commissions which must be held to ensure accountability by Governments and their agencies before the next election.

For more information contact:

WAC Convenor:

John Caldecott

Mobile: 0427 976 503

jec@ciq.com.au

WAC Media Coordinator:

Richard Watson,

Mobile: 0402 418 191

richard@thinkstrat.com

http://www.civictrust.net.au/WACPR090729.pdf

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STATEMENT FROM NGARRINDJERI REGARDING CLAYTON REGULATOR

The Ngarrindjeri people of the Lower Murray River and Coorong have told the State Government that the construction of regulators will seriously damage Aboriginal sites. Ngarrindjeri has informed the Government that it considers there has not been adequate justification for the construction of the regulators. The State Government has  acknowledged the pain and loss to Ngarrindjeri, but determined to  proceed regardless. Ngarrindjeri has been placed in a position where  it must bear witness to the damage, disturbance and interference to its culture. The State Government, by proceeding with this work, is responsible for its own actions in the destruction of the area.

In recent times there have been important and significant rains in the area. The water the partly constructed Clayton regulator was designed  to block has been released into Lake Alexandrina. In light of this, the State Government should review its plan and to this end immediately stop the construction of the regulators. There is no longer, if they ever was, any environmental advantage to the Goolwa Channel, the Currency Creek or the Finniss River of the construction  of these regulators.

Contact:

Tom Trevorrow

Chairperson, Ngarrindjeri Heritage Committee Inc.

(08) 8575 1557

0447 032448

Save SA’s Cheltenham acquifiers

This is a request to anybody concerned with Cheltenham Park being used for housing development instead of as a significant open space and underground stormwater reservoir. According to Colin Pitman this site has the potential and capability of storing wetlands cleansed stormwater 1.5 times the 20 GL storage capacity of Kangaroo Creek Dam in deep underground aquifers. You would have to be a brain dead Government to use Cheltenham for any other purpose given the critically of water to Adelaide and the immense damage stormwater and wastewater has done and continues to do to Adelaide Coastal Waters where some 9,000 hectares of old-growth seagrass forests have been lost. This has had immense implications for our beaches and the unique marine ecosystems dependent on the seagrass forests adjacent to our coast which has been turned into an underwater desert.

Also the Cheltenham Park Residents Association’s Supreme Court Case to keep this land in public trust goes is scheduled to commence on Monday 15^th June and is expected to run for a couple of days or so. They will be looking for support for the community to fill the public galleries over the sitting days.

Residents call on stormwater expert

Craig Cook Adelaide Now 8^th May 2009

“Stormwater expert Colin Pitman will give evidence for the Cheltenham Park Residents Association in its Supreme Court action to halt a housing development on the Cheltenham racecourse site.”

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,25445924-2682,00.htm

Support the “Save Cheltenham Park & water aquifers”. Click here to sign letter and forward to Mr Rann

Colombia moves to eliminate human right to water

An open letter to Dr. German Varon Cotrino, President of the House of Representatives and the government of President Alvaro Uribe of the Republic of Colombia In the past weeks we have received with great concern the news from Colombia about the democratic process of the Referendum for Water; the Referendum, supported by more than two million Colombians, is currently under debate by the First Commission of the House of Representatives of the Colombian Congress, in direct response to recommendations of the Chief Executive who proposed substantial modifications. These modifications go directly against the interests of the majority. The reforms proposed by the Colombian government eliminate the establishment of the human right to potable water; they eliminate the recognition of water as a common good and a public trust; they eliminate special protections for ecosystems essential to the hydrological cycle; they eliminate impediments to the privatization of water management, water delivery, and sewage; they attempt to add to the Constitution the statement that “waters that are born and die in the same property are private,” thus imposing an exception to the principle that all waters are to be treated as common good for public use; they attempt to deliver water rights to the illegitimate owners of large landholdings that have resulted from the displacement of more than four million peasants and indigenous people; they eliminate the consideration that waters that flow from ethnic territories are an integral part of these territories. And, they adjust the proposed minimum free quantity of water, falsely suggesting that it is oriented strictly toward the poor, and maintaining it within the current legal norm of the private management of public utilities. Thus, the modifications proposed by the First Commission of the House of Representatives of the Republic run completely contrary to the original spirit in which the Referendum was written; what is of even greater concern, these modifications serve to reinforce privatization and to deepen the inequity of Colombian communities’ access to water. For these reasons, at the invitation of the people of Colombia, acting in defense of water and life throughout the world and for the construction of societies based on social and environmental justice, we ask that you respect the original text of the Constitutional Reform and that, in keeping with your responsibility, you allow the people of Colombia to determine the future of Colombia’s water. As part of the international movement in defense of water, we are standing by in witness to any decisions that will be made. Sincerely, Bernard Eddy Co-Convenor Australian Water Network on behalf of, and written by Anil Naidoo Blue Planet Project.