Category: Water

Wetlands of international importance are one of seven matters of national environmental significance that must be assessed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

The Lower Hunter’s 3000-hectare wetland area was declared a site of world significance on the Ramsar register in 1984. It includes the Kooragang nature reserve and the Shortland wetlands centre.

The Commonwealth’s assessment, which will be done via a bilateral agreement between the state and Commonwealth governments, will examine the likely effect of the dam on the region’s wetlands.

Mr Garrett will then make a determination on the project.

Newcastle Wilderness Society campaigner Vanessa Culliford said the dam would have a major impact on Lower Hunter wetlands.

“The Williams River has the most diverse and intact aquatic biotic communities in the Hunter Valley and runs into Ramsar wetlands; why would we want to allow that to be destroyed,” she said.

Greens MP John Kaye said Mr Garrett’s intervention represented a significant setback for the State Government that recently used its controversial 3A planning powers to declare the dam critical infrastructure.

“While the NSW Government is trying to fast-track approval, Peter Garrett has thrown up a massive speed hump,” he said.

“This is bad news for Premier Nathan Rees and his Water Minister Phil Costa. They now have two fights on their hands, defending both the environmental impacts and need for the water.”

Ms Holmes said Hunter Water welcomed the Commonwealth’s involvement.

“We believed that referring the project for consideration by the Commonwealth was a prudent approach for a major infrastructure project,” she said.

“We welcome the Commonwealth’s involvement in the process, we look forward to working with them.”

No Tillegra Action Group spokeswoman Sally Corbett said more than 100 public submissions had been sent to Mr Garrett’s office opposing the dam.

From the ABC

The Queensland weather bureau says water might start flowing into Lake Eyre in South Australia’s far north for the first time in eight years.

Water from the recent floods in Queensland is starting to make its way down the Georgina and Diamantina rivers towards the lake.

The bureau’s hydrology manager Peter Baddiley says there is still plenty of time left in the wet season, so even more water could reach the system.

“We’ve got two or three months to run on our wet season but really these floods that have started up in the start of January and are running down our channel country now are the first pulse of the season,” he said.

“But there’s not a lot of volume in it.

“Future rain over the next couple of months would certainly increase the chance of water arriving into Lake Eyre in more significant quantity.”

“We have made it worse for people,” Mr Posselt said. “Water is very, very divisive. The happiest groups of people that we have come across have been in areas where there’s been very little irrigation.”

Mr Posselt, 54, left Brisbane on May 27 to paddle and pull his kayak to Adelaide to focus attention on man-made climate change and its effect on the Murray-Darling Basin.

Irrigation is the backbone of Bourke shire’s economy, but six years of drought have savaged the industry.

Across the road from Mr Posselt’s Bourke campsite were citrus trees cut back to their stumps so they put all their energy into surviving rather than producing fruit. There has barely been enough water to keep the trees alive and the severe pruning means they will not be able to produce a commercial crop for two years.

Hardly any cotton has been harvested for six years. There are irrigation businesses in receivership or up for sale.

Census data show no other local government area in NSW lost a greater proportion of its people between 2001 and 2006 than Bourke.

Some say that climate change has rendered Bourke’s irrigation unsustainable and money from the Federal Government’s $10 billion water security plan should be used to shut it down.

“As Australians, we should all hang our heads in shame that we have let it get to this situation,” Mr Posselt said.

To combat climate change, coal-fired power should be replaced by renewables as soon as possible, he said, and federal control of the Murray-Darling Basin was “fundamental”.

Bourke’s Mayor, Wayne O’Mally, is a climate-change sceptic who believes the local irrigation industry has a strong future because what is being experienced is simply a drought like many other long dry spells Bourke has endured.

“There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that this drought is a cycle of nature,” he said. “Every single thing that happens with nature doesn’t have to be put down to climate change.”

But Cr O’Mally is in favour of federal action to prevent Queensland irrigators taking what he believes is too much water from Darling River tributaries.

He has also campaigned to have floodwater from coastal rivers like northern NSW’s Clarence piped into the tributaries of the Darling.

Mr Posselt says the river will be dammed “over my dead body … every society in the world that has done major inter-basin water transfer has failed eventually”.

Australia’s most cleared state will create four new national parks in 2009 after the Victorian Government promised significant extra protection for the prized river red gum forests in the state’s north.

In Victoria, another 80,000ha of national parks will be created which will have grazing and logging bans.

The move to reduce the scale of commercial logging and cattle grazing in Victoria’s red gum forests has been applauded by environmental groups.

And Wilderness Society spokesman Gavin McFadzean challenged NSW, which also boasts significant strands of red gum forest, to match Victoria’s action.

But it’s sparked anger among farming and timber groups.

Supporter of cattle grazing in the red gum country, Max Rheese, said the bans would increase fire risk along the river.

“Cattle grazing is a fuel-mitigation measure,” he said.

“By shutting the graziers out, you increase the fuel load … the grasses in the Barmah are already chest high.”

The comments were echoed by Victorian Farmers Federation spokesman Simon Ramsay.

National Party leader Peter Ryan said the burden of creating the new parks would be carried by towns along the Murray in the form of job losses.

“This will do nothing to preserve the river red gums – what they need is rain,” he said.

The conservation expansion is the result of a 2006 election promise and to reports suggesting the majority of red gums are either dead or dying.

In a long-awaited response to the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council’s investigation, the Brumby Government has proposed new national parks for the Barmah Forest near Echuca, parts of the Gunbower Forest near Cohuna and sites on the Lower Goulburn River near Shepparton and the Warby-Ovens region near Wangaratta.

The move means up to 160,000 hectares of red gum forest are now protected in reserves, prompting the Wilderness Society to label it the most significant environmental gesture of Mr Brumby’s 17-month premiership.

Victorian Association of Forest Industries chief executive Philip Dalidakis estimated that up to 75pc of red gum areas currently available to commercial logging would become off-limits, meaning many jobs would be lost.

He disagreed with Mr Brumby’s claim that logging in the red gum areas was “just not sustainable”.

Most of the logging licences will expire next year, however, logging will still be permitted indefinitely in parts of the Gunbower, Benwell and Guttram forests.

Environment Minister Gavin Jennings said the Government would also sanction forest “thinning” in some regions — a process where some red gums will be removed to help maintain the health of superior specimens nearby and reduce fire risk. Environmentalists said they would have preferred a ban on all logging, but were still happy with the result.

Yesterday’s announcement did not guarantee any environmental flows for the red gums.

But the Brumby Government said its Foodbowl Modernisation Project — which is planned to save water by minimising irrigation losses — would play a major role in watering the ancient forests

From The Land

Water policy has created divisions in Victoria’s conservative political parties after a federal Nationals MP opposed a dam in Gippsland for being “environmentally unsustainable”.

The comments are another embarrassment for the state Liberal-National Coalition because its leader, Ted Baillieu, has repeatedly said “all options” for new dams would be considered as part of his water policy for the 2010 election.

Nationals member for Gippsland Darren Chester said he opposed any proposal to dam the region’s Mitchell River, for water to Melbourne, because of the potential harm to the Gippsland Lakes.

“I’m opposed to further diversions of water from Gippsland streams to Melbourne.

“I believe that Melbourne must invest more in water recycling and storm water harvesting,” he said.

Earlier this month, former Liberal upper house leader Phil Davis also called for Gippsland to be excluded as a location for a dam, saying capturing more water was unacceptable because of the ecological impact.

Mr Chester’s comments are awkward for the Coalition because he is a former chief of staff to Victorian Nationals leader Peter Ryan.

Responding to Mr Davis’ comments, Mr Baillieu declined to rule out a dam on the Mitchell River, saying the Opposition would consider water storages, along with recycling and harvesting stormwater.

“We are looking at all options available to secure Melbourne’s water supply,” he said.

Yesterday, Mr Baillieu repeated this position, putting him at odds with Mr Chester’s view.

Mr Ryan told The Age he welcomed the fact that Mr Chester had a point of view, but he also did not rule out a dam on the Mitchell River.

“We will make an announcement on water policy as the election approaches,” Mr Ryan said.

In a recent media statement, Mr Chester also said he was unaware of plans by any political party to dam the Mitchell River.

He has accused the Government of provoking a dams debate to divert attention from its controversial plans to pipe water to Melbourne from the Goulburn Valley.

But Water Minister Tim Holding seized on Mr Chester’s comments, saying the Opposition had been caught saying one thing to one community and the opposite to another.

“The Basin Plan will also include water quality and salinity management targets, an environmental watering plan and rules about trading water rights.

“The Basin Plan will be developed and administered by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, an independent expert body, with the Commonwealth Minister having sign-off,” she said.

Senator Wong said while there is more work to do to fix the problems in the Murray-Darling Basin, the reforms are a crucial step towards securing a viable future for the Basin’s communities, farmers and rivers.

“With the support of South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory, we will work to meet the challenges faced by the Basin including over-allocation, drought and climate change.

“The approval of these reforms is the result of States and the Commonwealth working together to show leadership in the national interest, and I thank all Ministers and officials involved.”

Actions the Government is already taking to address the critical situation in the Basin include:

• Committing $3.9 billion towards priority water efficiency and irrigation infrastructure projects in the basin.

• Undertaking the first-ever purchase of water by a Federal Government to return it to basin rivers and wetlands – out of a $3.1 billion commitment for this purpose.

• A program to work with state governments to purchase appropriately-sited properties with large water entitlements where environmental benefits and value-for-money exist, such as the recently-purchased Toorale station.

• Inviting groups of irrigators wishing to leave the industry, to submit proposals to sell their water entitlements together in ways that provide benefits for farmers and rivers.

• A small block irrigators exit grant package program.