Tonight, South Australia passed legislation to hand its powers over the River Murray to the Federal Government. Karlene Maywald, Minister for the River Murray and Minister for Water Security, lauded the move as heralding a new era of management that “will underpin the future security of water supply to all our communities and improve the environment of the Murray-Darling Basin in the longer term.” However, the new Murray-Darling Authority can only address issues concerning the life of the river and over-allocation if all states refer powers. Further the Intergovernmental agreement (IGA) does cover the entire catchment area of the Murray-Darling Basin: tributaries remain under state jurisdiction. In Di Bell’s opinion, we have an Authority that is yet to be empowered purporting to plan for the entire Murray-Darling system that is not within its jurisdiction. It will be important to keep pressure on the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) which next meets November 17.
Monthly Archive for October, 2008
A road trip? Why not? Early Friday morning Di Bell set off with fresh veggies from her garden and assorted goodies for the road. At Camp Coorong she piled into the bus with Ellen Trevorrow, Anne McMahon and their cargo of damped down rushes for weaving and the makings of feather flowers. From there it was into Meningie to pick up Rita Lindsay Sr and her sister Alice Abdulla and then off to Melbourne to meet up with Susan Hawthorne and Renate Klein of Spinifex Press for a delicious dinner of lamb shanks and a peaceful sleep at their gorgeous house.
Saturday it was the “World Matters 2008, Rights, Responsibilities and Risks Conference” in Eltham Victoria. The invitation was to engage with environmental, political, legal, social and cultural issues and to meet with members of the Nillumbik Reconciliation Group, the Nillumbik Climate Change Group Now, East Timorese women, Amnesty International, leading writers, publishers, activists, scientists and fellow citizens. Di and the Ngarrindjeri talked about their recent book, Kungun Ngarrindjeri Miminar Yunnan (http://www.spinifexpress.com.au/book_detail.php?id=191) and then Aunties Ellen, Rita and Alice conducted a weaving workshop. By the end of the day rushes were strewn throughout the meeting room and there were many who were planning a trip to Camp Coorong to continue refining their newly acquired skills as weavers.
The presentations were all excellent and the South Australian contingent attended all the Saturday sessions where they heard talks about freedom of speech versus religious vilification; listened to poetry in a number of tongues, including what Ouyang Yu rendered as “Anguish” (his pronunciation of “English”); watched as the tension rose in a session on “Tolerance, Prejudice and Fear” with Gideon Haigh, Christos Tsiolkas and Alexis Wright; and wanted to know more after the “Urgency of Now” session about climate change, nuclear power and poetry.
Back Row: Meera, Diane and Aunty Alice; Front Row: Aunty Rita and Aunty Ellen
It was a busy weekend for action and reflection for environmentalists in Victoria and South Australia. While Di and the Ngarrindjeri were speaking at Eltham, the Waterkeepers’ Conference was taking place in Goolwa, South Australia and on Sunday the Plug the Pipe rally at Yea in Victoria was sending a strong message to the Victorian Government: Stop the north-south pipeline. Speaking at the Yea Rally were Deb McLeish (local farmer), Nick Xenophon (independent senator), Sarah Hanson-Young (Greens senator) and Uncle Roy Patterson (Taungurung elder). More on these events later.
The suggestion of a temporary weir at Clayton drew the ire of Clayton residents back on July 19. At the time, Henry Jones, spokesperson for the River, Lakes and Coorong Action Groups said: “With tens of thousands of tonnes of salt coming down the river each year, it needs to go somewhere, and because of inadequate environmental flows due to the over allocation of water resources amplified by the drought, the natural process of flushing this out to sea has been stopped. Removing the barrages is no answer because without the ongoing dredging of the Murray Mouth - which is only just keeping what is left of the Coorong alive - the river will die from the mouth up. “
Debate regarding the so-called salt water solution has persisted and a number of submission to the Senate Inquiry addressed the matter. Recommendation 4 of the Majority Report stated that should the admission of salt water become necessary, environmental impacts would need to be investigated, EPBC (Environmental Protection Bio-diversity Conservation Act) approvals sought and community consultation would need to be undertaken. The Minority Report ruled out the admission of salt water as a solution (para 1.95).
Today, a Media Release by the Alexandra Council stated: “We also understand Minister Karlene Maywald’s technical reference group are also nearing completion of their detailed investigations into the impacts a temporary barrier may have on the water and ecology in the Goolwa channel. The investigations are also looking at the water in the Goolwa channel being increased by either fresh water or sea water. Once the investigations are completed Council will then be in a position to inform the Government which option it supports. Even with summer almost upon us we understand a temporary barrier could be completed before the end of the year.”
Confused? Email has been running hot with questions.
Where is the community consultation?
Where is the EIS?
Where is the EPBC referral?
Where is the Ramsar assessment?
Where is the weir?
Beside a fine photograph of Rob Hylton of Clayton Bay Escapes, John Wiseman and Jamie Walker report how “Rain fails to save the Lower Murray” (Australian, October 20 http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,24521359-11949,00.html). Rob’s story of the impact of lower levels on his recreational boat hire business and caravan park illustrates that the crisis in the Lower Lakes reaches into the lives of many who depend on the water. He has seen a drop of 90% in the boat hire business and a 25% fall-off in turnover at his caravan park but Rob is not eligible for relief under the Exceptional Circumstances for small businesses because he is not deriving 70% or more of his normal total business turnover from the provision of goods or services for farming activities.
In answer to a question from Di Bell regarding how many gigalitres a 4% increase in allocations represented, the Senior Policy Officer, River Murray Drought Response Team, Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation replied, “Each percentage increase for irrigation is 5.7 gigs therefore the total is 22.8 gigs”.
The majority report of the Senate Inquiry into water management in the Coorong and Lower Lakes cites the submissions of the Murray Darling Basin Commission that 30GL added to the 350GL dilution flow would be enough to keep the lakes above minus 0.1metres AHD which is the trigger for acidification management (paragraph 1.6). That 22.8GL would almost get us there.
In deciding who gets water and when, who is speaking for the environment?
It’s a glorious day so Di Bell is making hay while the sun shines.
Making hay while the sun shines
Tractor trails through the grass
Murray High Security allocations have increased by 15% from 80% to 95% and a General Security allocation of 2% has also been announced. This is the first time since 2006 that a General Security allocation announcement has been made.
Murrumbidgee High Security allocations remain at 95% and General Security allocations have increased from 5% to 9% (with 7% available now and 2% after February 2009).
Goulburn Murray Water announced increased seasonal allocations in the Murray and Goulburn Systems. Murray High Reliability Water Shares have increased by 4% from 13% to 17% and Goulburn High Reliability Water Shares have increased by 3% from 9% to 12%.
Di Bell wants to know: What did the environment get? What are we going to do?
River Murray Minister Karlene Maywald today announced that water allocations for River Murray irrigators in South Australia would be increased by 4 per cent to 15% because recent rains had brought 400GL of inflows, some 130GL more that expected. This is still less than the September average of 1,600GL and the region remains in drought.
Di Bell asks: And what about the environment? That 4% could make a big difference. How many GL does that 4% represent? Will 4% make it possible for irrigators to survive? If so, how many and where? What difference would that 4% have on a stressed wetland? Is anyone doing the impact studies? We have plenty of modelling on the drought, how about some modelling on the environmental benefits of 4% to the environment? Every little bit helps.
Di Bell was at the Environmental Activists’ Conference on October 11 at the Australian Education Union in Adelaide. It was an opportunity to meet with colleagues, exchange ideas and hear from climate change experts such as Mark Diesendorf from University of New South Wales, David Spratt, co-author of Code Red, Paul Downtown, Ecological Architect, Darren Ray from the Bureau of Meteorology, David Noonan, Australian Conservation Foundation and many others. [program at www.climateemergency.org.au]
The need to recognise and act on the climate change global emergency was at the heart of the conference. Participants echoed Di’s challenge on the campaign trail: “No more business as usual”. A new progressive politics is afoot. It is grounded in local communities of knowledge, entails coalition-building, working across different interest groups and disciplines. The task ahead requires asking the right questions and that will require clear conceptualisation of the complex factors underlying the climate change crisis.
The headlines today read: “Senate Inquiry finds Coorong can be saved” and “Not enough water to save Lakes”. Confused? The majority report reflected the government position that the fresh water needed to prevent acidification of the Lower Lakes was not available. This position was challenged by the minority report of Australian Greens Senators Rachel Siewert (WA) and Sarah Hanson-Young (SA) and Independent Senator Nick Xenophon (SA).
With respect to allowing opening the barrages, the majority report, endorsed by the Labor Senators stated: “If the admission of sea water becomes necessary, the potential environmental impacts should be subject to further detailed investigation and community consultation.”
The Minority Report ruled out flooding the lower lakes with salt water and called for emergency action to allow the system to survive: “The Commonwealth Government to acquire 60 gigalitres of fresh water by next spring within the southern connected system to maintain the water level of the lower lakes above the critical acidification point.”
The underlying causes of the crisis were variously named as over-allocation, climate change, drought, mismanagement and lack of political will to act. Both the majority and minority reports acknowledged that there were significant knowledge gaps and that more research and consultation were needed. (Full Report)
“Hurry, Hurry, Hurry: Save the Murray.”
That was the message on the new bright lime green and delicate pink ti-shirts printed on the occasion of the visit of environmentalist Dr. Jane Goodall to Milang where she learned of the turtle rescue work of the local school children.
The Eastern Fleurieu School at Milang has joined the Roots and Shoots educational program run by the Jane Goodall Institute. After the children had taken Jane for a walk along the foreshore, they gathered at the Milang Old School House Community Centre for speeches, the cutting of the ribbon to open the New Shed and lunch.
