Sydney Knitting Nannas have written to the Environment Minister, Tanya Plibersek, about the implementation of the Murray Darling Basin and copies have been sent to the relevant ministers in each state.
Dear Minister Plibersek,
I am writing on behalf of the Sydney Knitting Nannas to urge you to stand firm regarding the Prime Minister’s election promise to implement the Murray Darling Basin Plan in full, and in particular to buy the promised 450 gigalitres of water, stated by the Plan to be the minimum for basic survival of the Basin.
The Basin needs healthy water flows to be restored from its headwaters to the long suffering Coorong at the mouth of the Murray in South Australia.
When you look closely at the history of water usage across the Basin, the needs of the environment have consistently come a poor second. In fact, the only needs that government has regularly responded to have been economic needs.
We commend the return of water to the Macquarie Marshes, although it was, sadly, a ‘just in time ‘ measure and a typical example of bad management within the system. In spite of being Ramsar listed, in spite of being the irreplaceable spawning grounds of fish that end up in the rivers of the Basin, in spite of being a breeding ground for endangered bird species, and in spite of being a vital filter that cleans out pollutants and silt from the river on its way downstream, the Macquarie Marshes had to be on the brink of final, irreversible ecological collapse before an Australian Government would act and allow some rehydration of the system. The government had been warned by experts over many years, leading up to that action. The Marshes are by no means fully recovered.
One of the unfulfilled promises of the Murray-Darling Basin plan is cultural water rights for First Nations communities.
Under Australia’s obligations, as written in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples, the allocation to First Nations communities must be enacted as a matter of urgency. Cultural flows must achieve not only safe drinking water for First Nations people and other citizens but must ensure adequate flow rates to protect native fish and sites of significance. Aboriginal knowledge of country is being ignored, in spite of the fact they are the original scientists with a deep understanding of the environment they have inhabited for thousands of years.
The CSIRO, Australia’s leading body of scientists, has insisted that climate change must be factored into the Murray Darling Basin Plan, but so far that hasn’t happened, and we request that it be included in the Plan’s next iteration.
There is a litany of situations and events affecting the system, which is on the verge of collapse. We mention just a few in the following paragraphs.
- The first massive fish kill of 2018-19 was followed not long after by charities having to truck bottled water to places like Wilcannia. Basic health needs were at risk, especially with the number of people in the region on dialysis.
- In 2018 there was an alleged cancer cluster when 9 households out of 12 near Menindee reported cancer in their families who were totally dependent on the river for drinking and bathing water. A superficial investigation was conducted by Western Health and taken no further. Contact Ross Files 0428 335 835 Vanishing River Podcast 2018 and Mark Merrit.
- The river water has already been severely over-allocated in some regions, particularly in the Northern Basin where agribusiness empires have been over-influential.
- Excessive floodplain harvesting is cheating the rivers of essential water and must be reduced.
- Authorities plundered the Murray downstream of Broken Hill, and piped the water back up the river to that city, in order to facilitate the mining industry there.
- There has been major damage caused to aquatic and bird life due to the deliberate draining of the Menindee Lakes in 2016-2017.
- Flood plain gums need their roots soaked in water every 3 or 4 years, and it’s not happening. Without adequate hydration, a large part of the Basin will experience desertification.
- Finally, the vast numbers of 30-year-old cod that died in March this year, after they’d managed to survive two severe droughts, proved beyond doubt that rain wasn’t enough to save the rivers. Extensive flooding has led to raised carbon and debris in the river, deoxygenating the water and leading to what is known as ‘black water’. The major modifications of the river with dams and weirs have trapped this ‘black water’, killing fish and affecting drinking water.
The Murray Darling Basin Plan needs to be revitalized, and the whole river needs restoration urgently.
We know that as a vast, threatened ecosystem, the Basin supports two million people living along the rivers and a total of four million people who rely on it as a whole. It is a precious natural system for communities as well as being critical to all of us because of its support for our foodbowl. Those two factors don’t have to exclude one another. It’s simply a question of proper management.
Minister Plibersek, environmental groups across the country stand behind you to address this urgent case by purchasing the full promised 450 gigalitres of water without delay. This is a necessary first step towards ending this shameful chapter in the MDBP’s history and implementing a Basin Plan that will work for the river community, for First Nations, for farmers, and for the environment.
We look forward to seeing an urgent update on the actions your government is taking to rescue the Murray Darling.
Yours sincerely
Heather Goodall, Professor Emerita, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Technology Sydney
On behalf of the Sydney Knitting Nannas and Friends
CC
The Hon. Rose Jackson – NSW
Ms Harriet Shing – Victoria
The Hon. Glenn Butcher – Queensland
The Hon. Dr Susan Close – South Australia
Mr Shane Rattenbury – ACT