House debates
Tuesday, 22 November 2016
Constituency Statements
Murray-Darling Basin
5:08 pm
Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Nick Xenophon Team) Share this | Hansard source
What short memories some parliamentarians have! A decade ago we were in the midst of the millennium drought, the Murray-Darling Basin was in crisis and the Lower Lakes and the heritage-listed Ramsar wetlands in my electorate of Mayo were facing an environmental and economic disaster. Back then, the states were able to put aside their self-interest and to draft reforms to protect a river system for all users, upstream and down. Now that the water is flowing, there are murmurs about back-pedalling on these historic reforms. The Murray-Darling Basin Authority is considering amending the plan in order to cut 70 billion litres from the original target. The authority wants to do this by cutting the water recovery target in the north of the basin. Apparently this strikes a sensible balance between economics and the environment, and will save 200 jobs.
We in the Nick Xenophon Team are about sensible balance, so let me tell you something about the southern end of the basin, where we have not yet fully recovered from the effects of the drought of the century. Local business leaders tell me that economic activity, particularly tourism, is only about 60 per cent of what it was before the drought. The Goolwa marina has 16 full-time equivalent staff now. They used to employ 36. Three hundred boats left the marina at the height of the drought and only 80 have returned. That is just one enterprise. This story is echoed by many businesses across the region.
Only last month a group of business leaders sought a meeting with me because they feared northern irrigators would start clawing back water. We need equity across the basin, but any changes are seen by my southern constituents to be another nail in the coffin for the Coorong and the Lower Murray, for farming, for the environment and for local businesses. Significant media attention around the proposed amendment of less water flowing to the Murray mouth is enough to put doubt in the minds of investors and visitors.
If you want to talk about equity, let us keep in mind that most of the money promised for the recovery of the basin for infrastructure has gone north. The Goolwa barrages were built in the 1940s and there is no plan to replace this old infrastructure. The Nick Xenophon team want balance. We want all basin communities to survive in the future. We do not want South Australia to be sold down the river. I am more than happy to sit down with my parliamentary colleagues and have a mature conversation about the Basin Plan—as long as the government keeps its word that it will be based on science.
Public hysteria generated by this debate is extremely damaging to my community. Jobs down south are just as important as jobs up north. I want to finish by saying that the Lower Lakes and Murray mouth are looking beautiful and are open for business. I am going to be fighting for those areas to remain so.
Ken Jury
Posted on 23 Nov 2016 9:56 pm
Not so Ms Sharkie and I live in Goolwa which may surprise you.
Your party failed to investigate the circumstances of this latest stouch.To give you a starter, it's all to do with the Month of September last and a low depression that moved over SA, moving towards the Basin storages of Burrinjuck and Hume. Lets look at Hume first where the MDBA has responsibility for releases. In about mid August until roughly the beginning of September, the MDBA hume operators were slowly lowering the level of Hume due to excess water. During the long weekend in Victoria in early September that low that passed SA then dumped volumes of water on Hume and Burrinjuck dams. At around 10-30pm on one of the public holiday nights, MDBA reps found Hume full and overflowing. There was no air space as levels continued to gush. Several gates were opened to take the pressure off but the escaping flows were much wider than the Murray Channel whereby over bank flooding caused significant damage to properties below and left some owners in a perilous state. At about the same time, Blowering Dam was full and Burrinjuck was at a perilous height whereby the operators from NSW opened the floodgates and once again the farmers below Burrinjuck saw their crops destroyed. Many suffered losses in this incident to an estimated $500,000 each. Warnings were unsatisfactory as pointed out in a meeting at Albury where an MDBA rep. admitted they'll need to modify their warning arrangements. This was not the first occasion from Burrinjuck. Albeit, the MDBA has been pushing the Tony Burke idea of overbank flooding as a means to clear the Murray Mouth for a few years. They've already tested the water and sadly for the farmers each time with similar losses. These occasions brought about a meeting in Victoria last week attended also by Senator Ruston and MDBA CE, Phillip Glyde, several growers and your writer. Both were told of the damaging aftermaths. It was decided at this meeting that overbank flooding must be stopped immediately to put a stop to extensive property damage. And so, the likelihood of further actions such as described have now been stopped. The balance of this story was settled at the Basin state Water Ministers meeting in SA last Friday with the Deputy Prime Minister and Senator Anne Ruston. I therefore urge you and your team to put the effort in for the reality.