Save the Murray River lakes

Murray-Darling water - It’s time to use the P-word

Mon, 2008-09-01 13:31 by admin

Twelve months ago, John Corboy, co-convenor of Foodbowl Unlimited (www.foodbowl.com.au), ex-Chairman of SPC and strong proponent of the Victoria’s north-south pipeline, went on record as stating that the future for agriculture in the Goulburn Valley was “not all gloom and doom” as Australian farmers stand to benefit from the impact of two ecological time-bombs: the impending collapse of the largely ground-water irrigated agricultural sector in Northern China, home to around half of the country’s population of 1.3 billion, and the ever-worsening degradation and pollution of river systems in India and China.

In his speech to the Foodbowl Unlimited forum in September 2007, Mr Corboy also welcomed the reduction of global agricultural output as a result of increased biofuel production, saying this will “bring supply and demand into balance”. He indicated that by 2040 there would be 3 billion more mouths to feed on this planet and urged that agribusiness take “full advantage” of such opportunities: a degree of economic rationalism that would be hard to surpass.

Fair Water Use will leave it to others to comment on the moral calibre of such statements, but would like to inform Mr Corboy, and all those who seek to exploit the dwindling resource that is Murray-Darling water, that there is no need for him to travel as far as China or the Indian subcontinent to see rivers whose waters are unfit for human consumption as a result of mismanagement. A trip to the lower Murray will provide him with the opportunity to sample water with salinity levels in the region of 20,000 e.c., around eight times higher than the maximum salt content of potable water, and view large areas of what is described by the CSIRO as “monosulfidic black ooze”, acidic mud with a pH often less than 4.

There are great concerns that, under the terms of the Victorian Water Plan strongly supported by Mr Corboy, the Brumby Government will be able to “borrow” billions of litres of water from the environment and redirect it for industrial and domestic use.

Unless all those currently driving the water-privatisation agenda are called to account, the Murray-Darling Basin risks experiencing socio-ecological collapse similar to that anticipated by Mr Corboy in Northern China and India.

See also Fair Water Use media releases. For information on a related topic, see articles about the threatened privatisation of NSW's electricity assets.

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As Rudd Government dithers, Greens and Independents act to save Murray lakes

Thu, 2008-08-14 14:23 by admin

The Australian Greens Senators, with the support of Independent Senators will move to set up a Senate Inquiry to establish exactly what water in the Murray Darling system can be used to save the RAMSAR listed Coorong and lower Murray River lakes from acidification.

Urgent Senate Action to Save Murray

Greens Media Release of 14 Aug 08

The Australian Greens will move to set up an urgent Senate inquiry when Parliament resumes on August 26th, aimed at securing water for the Coorong and lower lakes of the Murray before Christmas, Greens Senators Bob Brown, Rachel Siewert and Sarah Hanson Young said today.

"The Coorong and lower lakes need a drink before Christmas. The water is there but the political will isn't. When Governments fail to act, the people, through the Senate, must provide action," Greens Leader Bob Brown said in Canberra today.

Senator Brown said the inquiry would report back by the end of September and that the Greens would urge the committee to visit the Coorong. The inquiry will investigate current water stocks and options for amending the Water Act to accelerate the purchase of water allocations and entitlements for the Coorong.

Governments across four states and the Commonwealth are dithering while Australia loses the great RAMSAR-listed wetlands of the Coorong, ...

Greens Senator Bob Brown

"Governments across four states and the Commonwealth are dithering while Australia loses the great RAMSAR-listed wetlands of the Coorong, and the entire social and economic fabric of the lower lakes and their communities have been thrown into turmoil."

SA Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said, "There is a cry for help coming from the communities of the Lower Murray to save the Coorong. That's a call that is being keenly felt by the river communities along the length and breadth of the Murray-Darling system."

"They do not accept Senator Wong's statements that the Coorong is lost."

Senator Rachel Siewert, Greens water spokesperson said there was enormous goodwill in river communities upstream to contribute to a revival of the Murray River.

"We don't want the federal government to simply hold a vigil for the death of the Murray"

"We need action now, and an emergency Senate inquiry can deliver that," Senator Siewert said.

For more information: Ebony Bennett 0409 164603

What you can do

Public Forum Climate Change and Water Solutions

With Kenneth Davidson of The Age, Dissent

Compere: Nonie Sharp of Arena publications

at Dante's
150 Gertrude Street Fitzroy
(in the back room, downstairs)

On Thursday 4 September 2008
At 7 pm for a 7:30 start

After a decade of drought, Australia faces an unprecedented water crisis. The once mighty Murray-Darling river system stands on the brink. Projected climate change makes the prospect look even drier. The water crisis will have lasting economic, social and political effects on the future of rural Australia, the southern states, and Australia as a whole.

Kenneth Davidson, economist, Age columnist, and co-editor of Dissent magazine, has been a leading commentator on the Australian water crisis. The forum will begin with Kenneth making a presentation on the issue, and the floor will then be opened to general discussion. All are welcome

.

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Coorong tragedy was avoidable: Greens Senator Siewert

Tue, 2008-08-12 22:41 by Sheila Newman

Oz Government in opposition ignored Senate's urgent advice about saving the lower Murray in South Australia two years ago.
(Greens Tuesday 12th August 2008)

"The environmental destruction of the Coorong is a tragedy that did not need to happen," said Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert today.

"The drastic decline of these internationally significant wetlands could have been prevented if either of our Environment Ministers had acted in a timely and sensible fashion."

A 2006 report on the dire state of the Coorong did not go unheeded by the Senate, which backed the Greens in calling for an urgent review of the management of Australia's 64 Ramsar listed wetlands.

Senator Rachel Siewert spoke at length at the time on the particular threats to the Coorong, the Gwydir and the Macquarie Marshes, and has continued to pursue both the Howard and Rudd Governments in Senate Estimates over when this review would be completed and the results made public.

"By failing to act, former Ministers Ian Campbell and Malcolm Turnbull and our current Environment Minister, Peter Garrett have all failed in their responsibilities to the international community, to the Australian
people and to the environment," she said.

"The Coorong and these other critically threatened wetlands could have been Montreaux listed, and the Commonwealth's powers under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act evoked to
ensure environmental water was delivered," concluded Senator Siewert.

The Greens are calling on Peter Garrett, Minister for the Environment, to act immediately to secure water for the Coorong, to report on the findings to date of the Ramsar review, and to release details of the health, management and recovery plans for our threatened Ramsar wetlands.

"When The Big Gums Fall-Ozziaz" Here's a new singer with a message about the MDB

(Source: "Warning bells on the Murray did not go unheeded," Greens media release Tuesday 12th August 2008)

For more information or comment call Chris Twomey on 0407 725 025 Email [email protected] http://www.rachelsiewert.org.au

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Oz Turtles pay horrible price of mindless market-focus: S.A. Murray-Darling

Tue, 2008-08-12 15:21 by Sheila Newman

Mon Jul 14, 2008
Volunteers remove parasites from the shells of tortoises

Hundreds of Australian long-necked turtles are the latest victims of the demise of the lower reaches of the Murray-Darling Basin. [The Murray Darling Basin is Australia's major riverine system and principle foodbowl.]

Volunteers cleaning victims of worm and market-logic

Small turtle, Big message

The message is that, in the Environment Minister, Penny Wong's scheme of priorities, South Australia's southern lakes long-necked turtles, don't rate much against an irrigation incumbent from the big end of town. For Australia's cash-obsessed government, economic growth may seem to out-rate the turtle, but remember Aesop's fable about the slow and steady turtle against the hare. Thermodynamics tell us that the turtle outlives the hare due to superior thermodynamic efficiency over the long haul. Consider in this light, that respect for nature, rather than subservience to the inhuman market, carries the greater chance for the survival of humans and their civilisation in this desert country. (Sheila Newman)

(Film briefly showing worm-affected turtle but also gives good info on frightening impending collapse of riverine system.)

The turtles that live on the Murray mouth in the Coorong Lakes have been infected by a parasitic bristle worm that thrives in hyper saline waters.

A Goolwa resident, David Surmon, has organised an emergency rescue service for the turtles.
He says that he has saved something between 200 and 300 tortoises, but that he finds more dead each day.
He was reported by Bronwyn Herbert, to say that,

"In the last week I've found around about 13 or 14 dead and that's all deadly in the case of the bristle worm - because what happens is the turtles, if they can move, they get up onto the shore and they can't go any further because there's so much weight."

He added that foxes and rats attacked the encumbered turtles and killed them.

Apparently the bristle worm attaches itself to the turtles' shells and then the infestation slowly increases from then, creating a huge encrustation on the turtles upper and lower shells. The turtle can be trapped inside its shell by the growth of the encrustation. Its legs may not reach the ground anymore, or the worm-infestation may become so heavy that the weight prevents the turtle from moving.

Surmon was quoted by interviewer Bronwyn Herbert, saying that the rescue group had "...actually weighed one, one time, and it weighed nearly seven kilos. And that was a very small turtle. On the back of the turtle was around about three or four inches high of bristle worms."

Turtle rescuer, David Surmon, describes how the team he works saves as many turtles as they are able to reach by taking the turtles from the river and putting them in a big bathtub of rain water. They leave them there for about two or three hours, which is enough to kill the worm. Afterwards the volunteers liberate the turtles from their prison by scraping the dead worm and its encrustation off the turtles carapaces.

"Believe it or not pure fresh water, even tap water will actually kill the bristle worm because it is not used to living in fresh water," David Surmon says.

He said that when he had around a dozen of them, he generally took them further up-river, freeing them up above Murray Bridge.

According to Surmon, the Coorong Lakes comprise very important habitat for turtle reproduction and are the location of a significant breeding population.

Many of us would agree with David Surmon that "Without the wildlife in the river and around the river (...) All we've got is just a big, big mud pan that's going nowhere."

He sounds like a kind and thoughtful man, able to take responsibility and initiative, and to communicate something very significant about our society, our government, and our river system, by reading and interpreting important signs from generally overlooked inhabitants of this badly treated country.

Photos of turtles and their human helpers republished with kind permission from Citizens saving turtles from Murray-Darling crisis The film from you-tube was a selection by the writer.

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Keep fighting for the Murray Darling in spite of our Government

Mon, 2008-08-11 17:56 by Sheila Newman

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.
Film: "Australia's Murray River Murray Darling Disaster" 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.

Lateline film on COAG, "New Deadline to Save Murray Darling" 7 August 2008) 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.) The World Today - Wednesday, 6 August , 2008 12:10:00

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 reported 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.

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Why did Karlene Maywald conceal surrender in fight to save Coorong from Goolwa meeting?

Sun, 2008-08-10 19:07 by admin

Maywald should have told Goolwa meeting about Weir

Media release of 5 Aug 08 from Mark Parnell, Greens member of the South Australian Legislative Council.

Minister Maywald should have told last night's River Murray meeting in Goolwa that work will begin shortly on the Wellington Weir, says Greens MLC Mark Parnell.

This morning, the Minister for Water Security revealed on ABC Radio that Cabinet last week had signed off on $30 million worth of preparatory work on the Weir at Wellington, but did not mention it at a major community briefing last night which Mark Parnell attended.

"Last night, there were 300 people in Goolwa talking to Minister Maywald about the future of the Lower Lakes and Coorong, yet she didn't see fit to mention to us that the Government had already agreed to begin work on the Wellington Weir," said Mr Parnell.

"Surely we had a right to know. What's the point in talking about more fresh water flows down the Murray when Cabinet has already given up on that idea?

"Last night, I asked Karlene Maywald if the Government had "given up" on achieving sufficient freshwater flows to keep the Lower lakes and Coorong alive. She replied: "absolutely not". Yet, how can she reconcile that with the Cabinet decision last week to approve spending $30million to start construction of the Wellington Weir?

"Make no mistake: the Wellington Weir will irreversibly destroy the Lower Lakes as a freshwater environment. With the risk of acidification if the Lakes are allowed to dry out, the prospect of flooding the Lakes with seawater then becomes inevitable.

"Such an outcome would prove beyond doubt what an absolute failure present and past Governments both Labor and Liberal have been at protecting the Murray.

"To actively plan the death of the terminus of our continent's major river is a criminal act.

"The Greens have not given up on the Lower Lakes and we once again call on the Federal Government to immediately buy back water and send it down the River," he said.

For further comment contact Craig Wilkins on 0434 007 893

Appendix: Excerpt from Why Karlene Maywald must lose water portfolio

Originally published in Adelaide Now on 10 Aug 08

... the state Water Security Minister (was) selectively cautious with her words, bordering on being deceitful. Her lack of vital information at a Goolwa community meeting this week was atrocious.

The next day Karlene Maywald finally let the wildly-scratching cat out of the bag. In a very matter-of-fact way she announced that $30 million had been approved to start serious site work on the Wellington Weir, which hasn't yet been given the final go-ahead, because she says it mightn't ever be built.

Yeah, right.

You would have thought that such ominous news might have been passed on to the 300 Goolwa people whose lifestyles and livelihoods are hanging in the balance.

So why did it have such an unpleasant odour? After having dodged a large protest rally in the city last week, due to commitments in her own Riverland electorate, the Minister was quite forceful in defending any suggestions that she was gutless.

That criticism was levelled by her opponents and even some of her Riverland brethren who'd travelled to town to ask questions, get some answers or at the very least some future direction.

But the Minister claimed she wasn't gutless because she'd already planned to travel the river's length for the rest of the week addressing community concerns. In itself that's commendable, but surely it's the very least she should be doing as the Minister in charge of the crisis.

With Cabinet having recently agreed to spend tens of millions of dollars on the work which now seems likely to be a permanent structure across the once-mighty Murray, the Minister should have told that to the Goolwa meeting.

See also: Minister Karlene Maywald 'too busy' for Save the Murray rally of 1 Aug 08

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