democracy

Keep fighting for the Murray Darling in spite of our Government


What's in a title?
Just because the Federal Government calls South Australian Senator, Penny Wong, Australia's "Minister for the Water amd Climate Change," does that necessarily mean that she is really there for the environment?

The other Environment Minister, Peter Garratt, hasn't been there to save Port Melbourne's marine environment. It seems like, with two Federal environment ministers, Australia is just trashing nature faster, and setting the rest of us up for the four horsemen.

All over Australia, concerned citizens are trying to warn, educate and activate their fellow citizens because they simply cannot rely on the government to do it.
Let us not be too naive. People need to remember that governments do not save the environment or conserve national treasures; it is always people who force conservation.

Governments just step in afterwards and link their names to a popular success.

Bearing this in mind there is a great deal of reason for Australians everywhere to keep on fighting for the Murray Darling River so that the government finds it too difficult to maintain the strongholds of the big end of town, big users, corporates, and irrigators with impressive short-term cash-flows, on the MDB.

But now some of those big users say they are ready to swap water for cash.

In an announcement which shocked Australians, on 6th August 2008, Penny Wong declared that the government would not take water from higher up to save South Australia's Lower Lakes (Lake Alexandrina and Lake Albert.)

Yesterday, 11 Aug 2008, about 5000 people (an extraordinary turn-out for South Australia) came to Goolwa at the Mouth of the Murray and booed the name of Penny Wong and Premier Mike Rann, in their absence. John Coombe, Alexandrina Council chief executive, stated that there are more than 5000 gigalitres still stored upstream, and he called for at least 250 gigalitres to be sent down the Murray. Apparently recognising that our economy relies on the environment, he called for a better performance on the issue from leaders, first for the river and the environment and then for communities and business.

Adelaide ecologist David Paton said that a permanent larger flow is needed.

The Australian that Adelaide ecologist, David Paton, said, "The recent (Council of Australian Governments- COAG) agreement had {...}simply put off the decisions until 2018." He indicated that a permanent larger flow was needed.

Not enough water has been left by agriculture and towns to permit the river to keep functioning. This is one hell of a statement about modern economics, government and technology; it seems that our government and economists have vastly overestimated this continent's capacity for abuse; they cannot blame incipient climate change for all of this.

Australian politicians fiddle while Australian economy unravels

Without the cheap fertiliser that comes from plentiful petroleum, most of the enormous gains in production made in the last 50 years, which have permitted human economies to support enormous populations, will disappear. We can see signs of this whole economic structure fraying in the food riots in poor countries, the profiteering over state-subsidised 'biofuel' production in the US (fatal for soils, which are everyone's greatest wealth), the organised protests in France, and, most arcanely, the ridiculous and pathetic arguments over minor tax relief at the bowser in Australia. Question to all: Does Australia have even stupider politicians than the USA?

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