Mighty Murray
The Murray River holds a special place in many hearts and minds of locals. The river brings life to the landscape and the people who live and rely on her. After a trip down the Murray River from Barham to Wellington in South Australia and back, retired land surveyor David Laughlin was left with reflections of natural beauty, lessons from the past and current management by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority.
The never never of live exports
Anyone tracking the media will see the Albanese government is in trouble, from the failed referendum through to promises to reduce power bills by $275 by 2025, to get wages growing faster than inflation and not to raid peoples super, it has a growing list of failed and broken promises ... You can see why the hard heads in government are quietly looking for a way to kick the live sheep trade issue down the road just as they have done with the Murray Darling promise.
Happy 20th to The Living Murray program: MDBA
Basin states and the Murray–Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) are jointly celebrating 20 years since the historic ‘first step’ decision to establish The Living Murray program. A forerunner of the 2012 Basin Plan, The Living Murray (TLM) program was initiated in response to compelling evidence of severe and long-term decline in the health of the Murray River system.
Weather for November
Highest temperature was 43.8C on Saturday 11th compared to the record of 45.4C on the 29th in 2012 ... November rain was 28.4mm ... Highest November rain was 95.4mm in 1992 ... The river has remained reasonably steady a with current level of 0.85 metres and a flow of 769 ML/day, exactly the same as reported last month.
Water Bill opens old wounds
Communities who carried the burden of a Basin Plan corrupted by politics are once again looking down the barrel of mass buybacks. The impacts of water buybacks cannot be understated as communities were ripped apart, football clubs closed, huge areas of food production and habitat provision were dried out, industries retracted, driving increased costs and undermining sustainability, and the price of water was sent out of reach of many young farmers.
Murray Darling Basin Plan rescued: Plibersek
“This is one the biggest things any government has done for the environment in a decade. I said from day one that I was determined to deliver the Murray-Darling Basin Plan in full, including the 450GL of water for the environment. That’s what I’ve done ... we’ve worked with people across the Parliament to strengthen this legislation and make it law ...": Tanya Plibersek.
Water wars: Labor and Greens unite to drain rural communities
The environmental, economic and social value of water to our floodplain communities is once again washed away under a tide of political games ... Once again, South Australia leads the Feds around by the nose while glossing over the impacts of the barrages, the south east drainage scheme, the topography and even the estuarine nature of the area.
Basin Plan deal: Let the ‘Hunger Games’ begin
The fate of regional communities in the Murray-Darling Basin now rests with a handful of Senate crossbenchers after the Labor and the Greens struck a deal to enforce another 450GL in water buybacks from farmers within four years ... "The Minister’s insistence that buybacks are not the only option is disingenuous at best ... To add insult to injury, it is well documented that any water recovered cannot physically be delivered where it is intended to go ... ": NSW Irrigators’ Council CEO Claire Miller.
Premier Minns urged to distance himself from Albanese Government: NSW Farmers Association
The Albanese Government has allowed the Greens to dictate water policy that jeopardises the vitality of rural and regional towns across the Murray Darling Basin ... “Politicians have failed to listen to locals who have been warning them about the detriments of water buybacks": NSW Farmers Water Taskforce chair Richard Bootle.
Communities thrown under bus in Greens water deal: NFF
Farming communities fear a deal announced today between the Government and the Greens will see their concerns about water buybacks ignored in favour of cheap politics. National Farmers’ Federation President David Jochinke said when presented with the choice to listen to communities and negotiate on sensible changes, MMr Jochinke is currently in the Basin town of Shepparton where a major demonstration is underway with tractors and heavy machinery convoying in opposition to further water buybacks.
Strengthening the Restoring Our Rivers Bill: Plibersek, Hanson-Young
The Albanese Government and Australian Greens have agreed to strengthen the Restoring Our Rivers Bill ... “We’re talking about the largest inland river system in Australia, supporting threatened plants and animals and delivering drinking water for 3 million Australians. We have to get this right": Plibersek ... “As part of this agreement, the Greens have secured an independent audit of water in the basin to stop the rorts, inject integrity and restore trust after a decade of mismanagement from vested interests": Hanson-Young.
Enough is enough says Leeton protest rally
More than 600 residents, business owners and farmers demanded "enough is enough" and called for a stop to the water buybacks by the Albanese Government in a protest rally at Leeton. The crowd in Mountford Park was addressed by Leeton Mayor Cr Tony Reneka...
Still fighting
Even though this week’s rally in Deniliquin pulled a 700-strong crowd, for many, it was simply a case of déjà vu. Another year, another town, another rally, and every farm and rural/regional community the length and breadth of the Murray-Darling Basin still fighting a rearguard action to save their water and their future.
Schools left high and dry by water buybacks
Water buybacks have taken a toll on education in the southern NSW Murray-Darling Basin, with school principals linking falling enrolments and subject choices to the lasting socioeconomic impacts of past Government purchases. A NSW Irrigators’ Council (NSWIC) analysis of enrolment data, supported by interviews with school principals, shows how water buybacks are contributing to a loss of population and jobs and therefore fewer enrolments, subject choice and resources for regional schools.
Protect us from Plibersek!
Southern Riverina communities are being called on to ‘fight for our future’ at a rally next week. It aims to highlight the community concern at the social and economic damage that will be caused if water buybacks are introduced, as proposed by the Albanese Government.
Sacrificial lambs for a political agenda
Promoting a political agenda that costs jobs and ruins the livelihoods of people in rural communities has been described as "a sad reflection on the priorities of our city-based political elite." ... Mr Lolicato said the MDBA’s own socio-economic community profiles show job losses, again primarily from water buybacks, at more than 3,200.
Widespread water protest planned: NSW Farmers Association
Basin communities, farmers and businesses will join forces for the nation’s largest ever protest next week against the Albanese Government’s controversial water bill. The coordinated action led by Deniliquin, Griffith and Leeton councils, along with key farming groups such as NSW Farmers and businesses, will see towns across multiple states host demonstrations on Tuesday, November 21, sharing the message that a rewrite of the Murray Darling Basin Plan will cost thousands of jobs and slash almost $1bn worth of food and fibre from farms.
‘We stand by our river’: Murray Darling Conservation Alliance
With the Senate set to decide the fate of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, an alliance of First Nation leaders, irrigators, farmers, ecologists and environmental organisations today travelled to federal parliament to urge politicians from across the political spectrum to deliver for inland rivers and communities.
Labor’s Basin plans will result in higher food prices, farmers warn: NSW Farmers, NFF, NSWIC, AgForce
The Albanese Government’s proposed changes to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan will shut down farms, destroy jobs and increase the price of food ... National Farmers’ Federation, NSW Farmers, AgForce Queensland and the NSW Irrigators’ Council– have joined forces to warn the Government is going far beyond the original 2012 Plan that sought to balance environmental, social and economic wellbeing.
MRSG explains ‘a better way’ to Senate Basin Plan hearing
“There are alternative investment options that deliver far greater and more sustainable environmental outcomes than the original architects of the Basin Plan’s approach of ‘just add water’. Sadly, politics doesn’t allow common sense to prevail. MRSG has also identified a range of project options that could achieve environmental outcomes while at the same time protecting staple food production, jobs, rural communities, economic activity and export earnings”: Louise Burge, Murray Regional Strategy Group.
Southern purple-spotted gudgeon reintroduced into the River Torrens/Karrawirra Pari today: Close
The critically endangered southern purple-spotted gudgeon will be reintroduced to River Torrens / Karrawirra Pari ... The gudgeons have been a missing part of the river system for over a century, and are being reintroduced to the Breakout Creek / Purruna Pari section, which has progressively been restored from an artificial channel to a more natural waterway.
Getting the Murray–Darling Basin Plan back on track: Productivity Commission
Improved accountability would boost progress on the Murray–Darling Basin Plan, according to the Productivity Commission. The interim report of the 2023 Murray–Darling Basin Plan implementation review finds the Australian Government’s recently proposed extension of the Basin Plan timeframes is necessary but won’t be enough. “In the five years since the last Commission review, very little progress has been made on water recovery, or on supply and constraints-easing measures,” Associate Commissioner Chris Guest said.
