For a moment, can we establish that if I was to save the environment it would require a net benefit? This means that I save more environment than I destroy, the environmental assets and ecosystem function are greater than the baseline of where we began.
In watching Australia’s water policy develop, be implemented and progress, I often find myself lost or searching for some understanding of how we got here.
“We wonder why a frog near a coal mine is environmental matter of national significance, yet a 47,000 hectare wetland is not. 220,000 bird movements a year is a national treasure and now the testimony in this place is the state and federal governments are going to murder Menindee,” was a question put forward by Senator Malcolm Roberts at a recent Federal Estimates hearing on water.
Menindee is one of 36 sustainable diversion limit projects aiming to recover another 605,000ML to the current 2,106,000ML of surface water entitlements and 35,300ML of groundwater entitlements held by Australia’s largest irrigator, you the taxpayer.
Taxpayers have a current seasonal allocation (wet stuff) of 2,054,000ML, complimented by carryover of last year’s allocation of 738,000. This season, that is a total of 2,787,000ML! Add to this all the other water that flows down the river that isn’t ‘environmental’ water but has an environment benefit like a flood, aka unregulated flow, or conveyance, aka water to run the river, or water bound for productive use. Maybe the trees know only to drink ‘environmental’ water?
Despite all this water held as ‘environmental’ water or other water having an environmental benefit, Menindee is still in the sights of governments, state and federal, to help recover water for the environment, just not Menindee’s environment.
Despite the calls for more water to save the environment well above Menindee, the NSW government is still backing proposed floodplain harvest regulations. A report by Slattery and Johnson compiled the data on what they believe are the figures. Under the Basin Plan, allowable take for floodplain harvesting is 46,300ML. NSW Department of Environment has proposed and anticipated volumes to be licensed of 321,000ML and yet the allowable annual take based on proposed accounting rules is estimated at 1,585,000ML.
These undertakings make about as much sense as eroding hundreds of kilometres of the Murray under a plan to save it.
This article appeared in The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper, 17 March 2022.
