North Coast Voices, 1 March 2013 |
Wednesday, 8 May 2019
The Liberal & Nationals answer to all the water policy mistakes they have made in the past. Full speed ahead to make some more!
In 2006 the
Howard Coalition Government’s then Minister for Water Malcolm Bligh Turnbull attempted an under-the-radar progression of
a proposal to dam and divert water from the Clarence River system into the
Murray Darling Basin. He was sprung and it lost his government the seat of Page
in 2007.
When Tony Abbott was prime minister he was
all gung-ho for damming east coast rivers, but was by then wary of the mood of Clarence
Valley communities.
Despite a
certain coolness on Tony Abbott’s part and Turnbull's silence once he followed Abbott as prime minister, the wannabee water raiders within the Basin have never given up on the idea of destroying the Clarence River in order
to continue lucrative water trading for profit and inappropriate levels of farm irrigation
in the Basin.
This is a mockup of what these raiders would like to see along the Clarence River.
On 30 April
2019 Scott Morrison and Co announced
the proposed creation of the National
Water Grid which in effect informs communities in the Northern Rivers region that
our wishes, being “political” because we are not their handpicked ‘experts’,
will be ignored when it comes to proposed
large-scale water diversion projects including dams if they are
re-elected on 18 May 2019.
The Daily Examiner, 4 May 2019, p.10:
“Just add water” is the
Nationals’ answer to “unleashing the potential” of regional Australia but it
would come at a cost to areas flush with the precious resource.
Deputy Prime Minister
Michael McCormack announced on Tuesday at the National Press Club that a
returned Coalition government would establish an authority, the National Water
Grid, to manage water policy and infrastructure.
“We know the key to
unlocking the potential of regional Australia is simple – just add water,” he
said.
The announcement of the
National Water Grid has sparked fears the Clarence and Nymboida rivers may be
dammed to irrigate drought-stricken areas of the country – a prospect the
Clarence Valley community has faced before.
The Nationals’ Page
MP, Kevin Hogan, said there were “no plans to dam the Clarence
River”.
“There are proposals in
other drought-affected areas of the country,” he said…..
The planned National
Water Grid would ensure water infrastructure would be based on the best
available science, “not on political agendas”, Mr McCormack said.
It would “provide the
pipeline of all established, current and future water infrastructure projects
and then identify the missing links”.
Mr McCormack said dams
were the answer to “create jobs”, “back agriculture and back farmers”.
“While we are being bold
and building big, we are often stopped at the first hurdle when it comes to
short-sighted state governments that choose politics over practicality, and
indeed science,” he said…..
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