OT The Murray-Darling Basin Plan

 I don't really think this is OT but I have labelled it as such in case.
Many aspects of the future of this country are tied up in this - not the
least of which is whether or not the ratbags in Canberra can ever put aside
party politics to get on with actually governing.

Here is the executive summary

http://www.thebasinplan.mdba.gov.au/guide/guide.php?document=the-murray-darling-basin&chapter=executive-summary

One point to note about the process, as opposed to the content, is that both
Parties voted for the Water Act of 2007 that specifies what the Commission
must do.  So any polly who now says the Commission is not doing what they
should be doing is either ignorant or a liar or both.  Similarly any who say
there is a solution that will make everybody happy should go back on to
their medication and preferably resign public office.

I feel confident that we will now see a rush of populism as those who need
to shore up shaky numbers will snatch some headlines by taking the part of
the irrigators who are currently feeling pain whether or not it is in the
irrigators' or the nation's long term interest to do so.

David

 
http://www.thebasinplan.mdba.gov.au/guide/guide.php?document=the-murray-darling-basin&chapter=executive-summary

i suspect that if there were to be a noticably big rush of populism you'd
have seen it by now (from the liberal party of course - not the nationals as
they can't seem to manage to participate in big rushes of anything at all,
really :-) it's not clear to me that any self-serving... oops, i mean,
self-respecting politician is going to get too animated about a bunch of
disrespectful angry rednecks having town meetings & putting on a bit of
performance art when all that has happened is that the matter is finally
open for discussion. there's no mass of public support either way really -
which makes it hard to fit a definition of "populist", you must agree.

on some level, everyone knows that if the river dies then all the towns
along it are going to die anyway, water entitlements notwithstanding.  there
will always be groups of people who argue voraciously against their own
self-interest (as well as the interests of everyone else) & it's frankly
time to ignore that sort of carry-on in the pursuit of a solution that helps
everyone & where everyone has to change some of their behaviours or
expectations. being ridiculously optimistic at times, i hope to see such a
solution at the end of this process!

philosophically, it completely exasperates me that country people & farmers
especially, long regarded as the biggest whingers the world has ever seen or
ever will, are acting out that stereotype for the cameras yet again, &
cannot gain anything at all by doing that, instead of trying to participate
helpfully & help solve the problems for themselves & everyone else.

i grew up in an irrigation area & there, whingeing is like fresh air or
sunshine, they apparently need a little every day just to be going on with -
it must be something in the water <g>. (i don't live in such an area now, &
there's not much to whinge about here, except the local council :-)  i am
tired of such people purporting to be representative. we don't live in a
world where it's just 1953 every day of one's life - it's time to move on &
make some changes & make real plans for the future.

thanks for listening to me whinge! <g>
kylie
p.s. i think bob katter is fairly adorable in many ways really, but i also
disagree with the perennial idea (one of his personal favourites) that
"rural areas" are all going to drop dead within weeks without endless
subsidies, special treatment, big water entitlements, gobs of middle-class
welfare, and so forth. if that were really true, the kindest thing to do
would be to let them die, ... which i very much doubt would actually happen.
it is probably past time to call the bluff of some of these people. the
irrigators merely should be going first.

 

http://www.thebasinplan.mdba.gov.au/guide/guide.php?document=the-murray-darling-basin&chapter=executive-summary

I used to be a constituent of Bob's, he is not universally loved there, but
he is a noisy axle (needs greasing). I admired his stand when the other 2
supposed rural reps went commo. I prefer to eat Australian rice,  first the
drought and now maybe faceless cityites will prevent that. I want this
country to grow it's own food. I do not support waste in any industry. I
lived in the Victorian wheat belt for a while and in southern inland Qld as
well as up north with Bob. We don't sell enuf overseas to be able to afford
to be net importers of food. I am watching a local farmer increase the size
of my little village by selling the odd paddock or 3 to developers. More
people less productive land, catch 22?????????

 SG1 wrote:

http://www.thebasinplan.mdba.gov.au/guide/guide.php?document=the-murray-darling-basin&chapter=executive-summary

Amen to that.  That doesn't mean necessarily that we should grow all foods
regardless of the climatic suitability or cost effectiveness of it.

I do

This is another continuing problem.  Many towns and cities were established
in the most fertile part of the region - usually near rivers.  Our planning
people keep allowing them to grow and plant houses instead of food.  At some
point the comparably little good soil we have in reasonable rainfall areas
needs to be protected.  Right now it is more profitable to dig it up for
coal or subdivide for building lots.

David

 

that's right. i'd rather buy australian any day, but _should_ we be buying
australian rice?

having said that, i think rice is about the only food we possibly should not
be growing. there is somewhere in australia for every crop - it's offensive
that other foods are imported when we grow it ourselves. at a minimum, food
security is actually really important; "food miles" are an important
consideration, and so forth. and to address the original issue, any
irrigators who are growing (for example) wine grapes for export probably
should just shut up right now.


i think this is actually the more important issue here imo. farmland can NOT
be given up for mcmansions or coal. THAT is obscene. how can this be allowed
to happen??!
kylie