Post by Chips on May 23, 2008 16:49:47 GMT 9.5
The rivers of tears will keep on flowing
ANGELA GOODE
May 22, 2008 12:00am
River Murray - Australia's longest river
THE decision to give Riverland irrigators no water, a zero allocation, from July is harsh and horrible, and condemns many to poverty. There are no buyers for their farms. Their trees will die.
The amount of fruit and variety of vegetables coming from the region will dwindle. Apricots, limes, garlic, olives, grapes made the area rich. Now it is in despair. The Riverland, however, is just one area facing massive restructuring.
A river in trouble
Upstream, downstream, the river is being re-organised. The sucking of water that has gone on willy-nilly for hundreds of years is now being scrutinised like never before. It is a travesty that it has taken so long.
The Federal Government started buying water in the Murray Darling Basin in February, and the initial $50 million open tender project closed last Friday. It is part of a $3.1 billion budget for water purchase.
Many irrigators who have had zero allocation for up to two years, are enthusiastic about selling out for as much as $1000 a megalitre.
So keen are farmers to sell their licences that the 4 per cent limit on licence sales has already been reached in many areas. This stops further purchases by the Federal Government until the new allocation season starts in July.
Water brokers believe the 4 per cent cap will be reached in Victoria within days of that opening. This will prevent the Commonwealth buying more water for another year unless the 4 per cent cap is scrapped. The Federal Government wants this to occur by July.
These measures are exactly what is needed to restore the rivers to health. But nothing is ever one-dimensional and straightforward.
The squeals along the river system are building. Some irrigators want that cap to stay. They say it protects vital food production. Richard Anderson, Victorian Farmers Federation water council chairman, says removing the cap is dangerous. It could lead to vulnerable farmers selling out and robbing the nation of food.
In New South Wales, the largest irrigation corporation, Murray Irrigation Limited, is retaliating to the selling of licences by imposing a compulsory $382 termination fee on every megalitre traded out of the district.
MIL says it wants to stop the Government draining the Riverina of its wealth. Desperate irrigators who want to sell are not amused.
Many hope to buy more land as part of the restructuring of their properties to dryland operations. The termination fee has devalued land and put an immediate halt to land sales.
Many townspeople along the rivers rely on there being a substantial irrigation industry to keep their businesses going. They fear big towns like Deniliquin, Echuca and Swan Hill will become ghost towns.
Our neighbours upstream are not happy either. They snipe that our SA-based Minister Senator Penny Wong is just trying to get water for her own people in SA - as if she is doing some sort of favour for us over them.
They clearly haven't heard about our acidic Lower Lakes system, our dying towns, dying trees and collapsing businesses. The chauvinism of our eastern states friends is distressing.
With the amount of venom dripping into the beleaguered Basin, Senator Wong has established a Stakeholder Consultative Committee to evaluate the water buy-up and talk about how irrigation regions will restructure.
She will be accused, no doubt, of not understanding the social dislocation and economic impact of taking the water away.
Interstate Government spokespeople are saying Wong has no idea how to use the newly-acquired flows, which most in SA know are needed for environmental flushing as a priority.
The rivers of tears will flow for some time yet.
angelagoode@bigpond.aom
ANGELA GOODE
May 22, 2008 12:00am
River Murray - Australia's longest river
THE decision to give Riverland irrigators no water, a zero allocation, from July is harsh and horrible, and condemns many to poverty. There are no buyers for their farms. Their trees will die.
The amount of fruit and variety of vegetables coming from the region will dwindle. Apricots, limes, garlic, olives, grapes made the area rich. Now it is in despair. The Riverland, however, is just one area facing massive restructuring.
A river in trouble
Upstream, downstream, the river is being re-organised. The sucking of water that has gone on willy-nilly for hundreds of years is now being scrutinised like never before. It is a travesty that it has taken so long.
The Federal Government started buying water in the Murray Darling Basin in February, and the initial $50 million open tender project closed last Friday. It is part of a $3.1 billion budget for water purchase.
Many irrigators who have had zero allocation for up to two years, are enthusiastic about selling out for as much as $1000 a megalitre.
So keen are farmers to sell their licences that the 4 per cent limit on licence sales has already been reached in many areas. This stops further purchases by the Federal Government until the new allocation season starts in July.
Water brokers believe the 4 per cent cap will be reached in Victoria within days of that opening. This will prevent the Commonwealth buying more water for another year unless the 4 per cent cap is scrapped. The Federal Government wants this to occur by July.
These measures are exactly what is needed to restore the rivers to health. But nothing is ever one-dimensional and straightforward.
The squeals along the river system are building. Some irrigators want that cap to stay. They say it protects vital food production. Richard Anderson, Victorian Farmers Federation water council chairman, says removing the cap is dangerous. It could lead to vulnerable farmers selling out and robbing the nation of food.
In New South Wales, the largest irrigation corporation, Murray Irrigation Limited, is retaliating to the selling of licences by imposing a compulsory $382 termination fee on every megalitre traded out of the district.
MIL says it wants to stop the Government draining the Riverina of its wealth. Desperate irrigators who want to sell are not amused.
Many hope to buy more land as part of the restructuring of their properties to dryland operations. The termination fee has devalued land and put an immediate halt to land sales.
Many townspeople along the rivers rely on there being a substantial irrigation industry to keep their businesses going. They fear big towns like Deniliquin, Echuca and Swan Hill will become ghost towns.
Our neighbours upstream are not happy either. They snipe that our SA-based Minister Senator Penny Wong is just trying to get water for her own people in SA - as if she is doing some sort of favour for us over them.
They clearly haven't heard about our acidic Lower Lakes system, our dying towns, dying trees and collapsing businesses. The chauvinism of our eastern states friends is distressing.
With the amount of venom dripping into the beleaguered Basin, Senator Wong has established a Stakeholder Consultative Committee to evaluate the water buy-up and talk about how irrigation regions will restructure.
She will be accused, no doubt, of not understanding the social dislocation and economic impact of taking the water away.
Interstate Government spokespeople are saying Wong has no idea how to use the newly-acquired flows, which most in SA know are needed for environmental flushing as a priority.
The rivers of tears will flow for some time yet.
angelagoode@bigpond.aom