Water Report

April 01, 2010 15:33

The Productivity Commission report “Market Mechanisms for Recovering Water in the Murray Darling Basin” was released Wednesday (March 31st) highlights the Government’s complete failure to implement policy diligently. It doesn’t matter if you are a South Australian relying on the Murray for water, a farmer relying on the Basin for your livelihood or just someone who appreciates the beauty and diversity of one of the greatest environmental assets in this country, we all have a stake in managing this resource right. Some pertinent points from this report follow:

The Productivity Commission report demonstrates that the Rudd Government is managing it wrong
The Rudd Government is resorting to costly and wasteful ways of saving water. The Commission notes that the “low-hanging fruit” of water-saving has been picked, and future programs are likely to be less cost-effective. Improved land management practices are also being ignored as a possibly cheaper way of saving water
The Rudd Government is setting limits on water use without appropriately considering the benefits of irrigation. The Commission notes that “more water for the environment means less for irrigating crops or for domestic uses.”
The Rudd Government is creating of climate of confusion. Farmers do not know when they may be entitled to compensation. How can they invest in water saving technologies in this environment?
The Rudd Government is ignoring the impacts on local communities. The Commission has flagged that some of the money allocated to water saving projects could be “clawed-back” to meet other objectives. It notes that investment in irrigation infrastructure is not the only way of achieving regional development. At times, investment in other forms of economic and social infrastructure may be more appropriate
The Coalition will seek to design a more balanced approach to creating a more sustainable Murray Darling Basin. Its plan will provide jobs in regional areas, guarantee food security for all Australians and protect the environment. Current policy ignore such a triple-bottom line approach

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# david lloyd

Thursday, April 01, 2010 5:26 PM

Food is the biggest investment any towny makes over his lifetime, also the townies Green House Gas G.H.G footprint is millions of black ballons filled with carbon dioxide, thats a normal statistical statement,Tokeep the black ballons at bay requires good located sustainable water to keep the cities and all the millions of mums dads children and all the people crowded there fed watered with healthy fresh food. So -suppliers, producers, farmers,transport, markets, distrubitors, right down to the guy selling your mum her nice 5star fridge that has a low black balloon count, all have a stake here, so Penny Wong has to agree to sustainability,bad water policy is as bad as a plague, so Barnaby get all the performers and put some country wisdom into them, do not forget to talk in townie understand speak.

# Mrs Christine Sykes

Thursday, April 01, 2010 10:17 PM

Senator would you please object to the proposed damming on the Tillegra in NSW. The effects of this dam would be catastrophic to lower wetlands which boast some of the most endangered species of flora and fauna in our country. the effects on our economy would also be detrimental. Please say NO to the dam.

# Simon Larrescy

Friday, April 02, 2010 8:56 AM

Water Change is good, Barnaby. There's a overdue change needed within the various state DPI's. Precision Agriculture (PA) managements system should be the basis of all state's research. Governments providing Site-Specific Support for the farming environment! Climate change starts with a Urban change first! by supporting regional development. Establish a BASIN MANAGEMENT PRACTICE which incorporates the whole Industry achieving towards Best Management Practices with research under a Basin's network of PA. This will endeavour to show the true potential of the basin's BIOMASS FUEL capacity. Giving generations Hope for the bush. Or will there be another lost generation of farmers as a result of the city's greed/need for Climate change? Agriculture is Work in practice on Climate change. Agriculture will always be the basis of society. Keep up the good work Barnaby! Make ALL Australians aware of the true population potential of Regional Australia. Water decides on life.

# Richard White

Sunday, April 04, 2010 12:58 PM

Barnaby
Just very curious if many people have seen the following video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh3Kb2cgZgc It is quite mind boggling to say the least that for sure!

# George Gordon

Monday, April 05, 2010 2:04 PM

The 411 page Productivity Commission document of mainly economic argument is almost too much for a citizen to comprehend. Economic argument must be based on reality when considering water availability and should be based on advice from experts skilled in the business of water management. The conclusions must be presented so that the citizen can appreiciate the problem and does not disagree with the recommendations. If some of the assumptions are incorrect then the whole report is suspect.
My concern is with the "Northern Victoria Irrigation Renewal Project Stage 2" in Victoria referred to on page 126. The funding is up to 1000 million dollars of taxpayers money and provision of this funding is subject to a due diligence assessment of the social, economic, environmental, financial, and technical aspects. The main objective of the project is to reduce the volume of water that is currently lost. The report at page 124, under the heading"Issues in Assessing Water Savings" states
"This leaves reduced evaporation as the only component that is clearly a saving from a catchment perspective." At page 142 the report states
"For reasons discussed above, the SRWUI program, in its present form, has the potential to be ineffective, inefficient and inequitable."
I consider that the Northern Victoria Irrigation Renewal Project is ineffective, inefficient and inequitable and I would like you to pursue this issue.
The Victorian government plans to spend the 1000 million dollars without having the funding secured. This is the road to disaster.Your attention to this problem is very time consuming so I would like you to get your staff to collect some of the key facts from me and form an opinion for your consideration. I live in Melbourne and my phone no. is 9830 4015
Yours faithfully, George Gordon

# BOB Byers

Monday, April 05, 2010 9:36 PM

H I , Barnaby our kevin is going to look at the coal ship tuesday will he wear his budgie togs so he can dive down to see the damage .

# Cheryl Williamson

Thursday, April 08, 2010 7:05 PM

Unfortunately your Senate Committee sitting today in Wagga was not well attended - however, advertising of the event might have helped. We only heard about the meeting this morning and we were unable to attend. Having these meetings in regional and rural areas is a good idea, but it must be publicised well before the event. We are behind your efforts regarding land clearing, and the ETS. Much more should be done about the deregulation of the wheat market and the fact that the AWB has been dismantled (although John Howard started that particular ball rolling). If farmers are not given a fair go compared to overseas farmers who are subsidised to the hilt, then we wont survive and neither will Australia. Regards Cheryl

# perturbed

Tuesday, April 13, 2010 3:48 PM

Senator Joyce,

The Coalition HAS to go to the polls with a policy that the security of the food supply and adequate potable water to human beings comes before anything else. Improved land management and water efficiency policies must be pursued, yes, but not at the cost of productivity, not at the behest of States scrabbling to retain "rights" to which monetary values have been assigned, and not with the primary aim of placating radical environmentalists whose only intent is to "bash" (i.e. demonise) farmers.

If the farmers are going to have to invest in new technology to meet management and efficiency targets, so be it; but they should be able to write the expense off and should have easy access to the technical advice and assistance needed to make it work. We can't simply impose requirements on them and leave them scrabbling to either make it work or face penury through fines and disincentives.

# Nicholas

Tuesday, April 27, 2010 2:07 PM

Hi Barnaby
Good to see you out & about having lunch in Manly on Anzac Monday.
Cheers
Nick

# Lorikeet

Tuesday, April 27, 2010 7:27 PM

We all know what the plan is by now.

Rudd wants the farmers off the land so communists can take over.

# Elizabeth

Tuesday, May 04, 2010 11:38 AM

Barnaby,

If the coalition win the coming election would there be a revisiting of the report which found northern Australia unsuitable for food production? I ask this because I do not trust the soundness of the report handed down a while back.
Given that there is so much water going to waste in the northern part of the Country, would it not be possible to consider the doability of a pipeline to where the water is needed?
Has not a precedent been set in WA for this type of thing in a time before the advent of modern mechanisation?
Would a coalition government take the sensible option and build dams where needed instead of expensive desalinisation plants?
As long ago as late in the 19th and early 20th centuries Ion Idriess was constantly talking about - in his books - the need to harnesss water because Australia is such a dry continent.
This is 2010 and nothing much has been achieved in the way of a sensible, wide-ranging water policy.
I am much in favour of keepng environmental destruction and species damage to a minimum but recognise that without water, there cannot be a strongly viable food production industry and, like it or not, this means people have to come before other considerations.

# Roger Berto

Tuesday, May 11, 2010 12:35 PM

My dear Senator, after viewing a news clip where you tried to do maths under pressure, a trick I do is to work out what a Billion dollars is to everyone here, so $1,000,000,000 divided by 22,000,000[population of Australia] is 45-4545454545 close enough to call it a case of say Crown Lager that goes for $45 or so.When the numbers get thrown a Billion or a Thousand Million it's nice to have it down to case of beer sums as that AD that runs here dose........Regards Roger

# max cooper

Wednesday, May 12, 2010 1:41 PM

Senator Changes need to be made to the native veg act as it is being used to prevent the use of large areas of land from being productive most of this land is owned by individuals and is being targeted by gov for conservation, while productive farmland land owned by large developers or land wanted for multinational miners is kept available. Examples of this known to me are

1) Appin NSW small landholders thwarted at every turn while large developers and miners in the area get what they want
.
2) Camden, Campbellltown Bringelly Small landholders become the green space while large commercial politically savy players get to destroy productive farmland for housing. eg Harrington Park Camden, Oran Park Cobbity

3) Dunedoo NSW Farmers prevented from clearing and expanding production while Electricity generators plan coal mine at Leheys Creek
Destroying or taking out of production 40000 plus acres.

While I am not against development and jobs it is important that everyone gets a chance to participate not only those that contribute to political parties. Also the areas I have identified which are only three of hundreds throughout the country, amount to an area in excess of 50 THOUSAND ACRES. My question to you is how do we replace this productive land,given the restrictions I have identified and the growth in population
I await your response max cooper

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# Graeme Bird

Wednesday, August 04, 2010 9:48 PM

These lunatics say sorry to the aborigines. Then they have this wild rivers policy which means cutting many isolated people off from making use of water. Why say sorry about what other people have allegedly done, when you have so much to be sorry about for what they are doing now. They ought to have a civilized rivers policy instead. They could have a tax free zone for people who wanted to go up to the wild places and irrigate.

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