South Australian Murray Irrigators

News this week that Queensland irrigators diverted a record 1014 gigaltires from the Murray Darling Basin over the past year has angered South Australian Murray Irrigators.

SAMI chairman Tim Whetstone said today the report further highlighted the lack of real leadership on water management in this country.

He said drought stricken South Australian irrigators had received a record low allocation of 176 gigalitres for the same period.

“How many examples do we have to give before the penny drops at a State and Federal level?

“Water is the most precious resource in the country right now and we have people helping themselves to as much as they like while others further downstream face ruin.

“This type of behaviour is un-Australian. This isn’t giving anyone a fair go except those taking the water. The economic and environmental fall-out of strangling river systems by privately diverting massive amounts of water cannot be under-estimated. It has clearly been happening for many years now and, despite supposed caps on development, the governments are turning a blind eye.

“As South Australians we rely on everyone upstream being responsible citizens and playing by the rules. Clearly, there are no rules or ramifications for those who wish to harvest water that, by rights, should be flowing right through the system.”

Mr Whetstone said urgent action needed to be taken to stop huge diversions.

“Everyone in the basin should be on the same system. You get an allocation, the environment has an allocation and we work together in a sustainable way.”

Mr Whetstone said the plight of the lower lakes and its people will engulf many more communities upstream in South Australia unless the State Government declares a state of emergency.

“We have a river on its knees, we have thousands of families who will run out of water next month and we get news this week that water that could have potentially saved us all is being diverted into huge private dams in Queensland.

“The Prime Minister and our Premier are not showing leadership by saying they can’t make it rain. What this report shows is that they don’t need to, they need to take control and stop cowboys draining rivers that belong to everyone. 

“They need get fair dinkum about addressing the biggest economic and environmental disaster to hit this country since the depression.

“The Federal Government needs to empower an independent controlling body to fairly manage water resources across the basin – not in two years, not in 12 months, but as soon as next month.”

Mr Whetstone said SAMI would next week unveil a basin-wide survival plan to protect permanent plantings and provide a viable exit package for irrigators who have had enough.

“We have State and Federal governments making policy on the run. They need to sit down with those of us who know what we are talking about and discover the resolve to implement the type of action that will have an immediate, positive impact on many, many river communities across the basin.”

Background:

The Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Water reports that their State’s irrigators took a record 1.014 million megalitres from the Murray Darling Basin system in 2007-08.

This is the largest amount Queensland has diverted from the system in one year and significantly more than the previous record of 815ML set in 2003-04.

While the Queensland irrigators switched on their pumps, SA irrigators eventually received a 32% allocation for the same period.