Extract from The Guardian
It
turns out that the only drop to drink in the Murray-Darling basin is in
private irrigation channels surrounding NSW’s Barwon River. But the
scandal unfolding there is not an isolated failure in the system, but a
symptom of something much more fundamentally wrong with how we protect
our environment. And it’s time for the Australian government to lead us
in a national plan to fix this.
The community was rightly shocked this week by allegations of widespread water theft, meter tampering and what looks very much like corrupt dealings between public servants, politicians and certain irrigators in the Murray Darling basin.
People from southern NSW to South Australia are wondering how in the hell wrongdoing at this scale could go undetected and unchecked for so long. How could a multi-billion dollar program, overseen by the federal government, the NSW government, local governments and the Murray Darling Basin Authority, fail to catch such widespread problems? In response to the allegations, downstream users and political leaders are calling for independent inquiries and new independent bodies to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
That’s fair. From the 2014 Icac coal scandals in NSW, government-run clearing of threatened species in Perth’s Beeliar wetlands and the continued logging of Leadbeater’s possum habitat, despite years of federal and state recovery plans, the need for an independent watchdog for our environment and our communities has long been evident.
But what’s being lost in the furore over the Murray-Darling is that this problem is much bigger than the potential corruption in the system. This is just the latest in a long line of similar failures in our system of environmental protection and governance.
The community rightfully expects a clear and achievable national plan for how we will meet the demands of the 21st century as our environment cracks under the strain of climate change and 200 years of exploitation of natural resources. We expect that our laws ensure all Australians have access to transparent information about the true environmental costs of big developments. We expect leadership to sort out the overly complex and impenetrable soup of federal, state and local bodies that make up our system of environmental oversight.
Unfortunately, we have none of this.
It is a tragic reality that in 2017 our nation still allows the clearing of tens of thousands of hectares of koala habitat and logging of old growth forests full of wildlife. More and more threatened species edge toward extinction each day. Water tables are being irreparably damaged by poorly regulated resource projects, and at the same time 3,000 Australians die each year from air pollution.
In fact, even as the scandal in the Murray-Darling broke this week, we saw yet another chapter in what is arguably the biggest environmental failure in Australia.
Despite Unesco naming water quality as one of the biggest threats to the Great Barrier Reef, widespread clearing of forests and bushlands continues in Reef catchments dumping tonnes of soils across corals already stressed by heat and repeated bleaching.
As a world heritage site supporting 63,000 jobs, the Reef is supposedly protected by both the federal and state governments. The World Heritage Centre singled out stronger clearing laws as a key measure needed to improve the health of the Reef and the federal government has assured Unesco that it will do what it can to control the clearing threatening the future of this national treasure.
But, despite this, the clearing just keeps happening. There are potentially 7,000 properties in Queensland that have or are planning to clear nationally “protected” bush. However, a recent WWF report has found that 99.9% of of those properties are going ahead, despite being required to refer to the federal department before clearing can begin.
To date, the federal department will not reveal how many properties it has investigated. We know there has been zero prosecutions, and it’s estimated that less than ten properties have been referred to the department under our national environment laws.
Even worse, this clearing is largely happening because the previous Queensland government was ramming through laws that went against long standing policy and the Australian government didn’t do a thing about it.
As with the Murray-Darling, our greatest natural assets are caught between self-interested state governments desperately holding on to a mantra of “jobs and growth equals votes” and an utterly disinterested Australian government that is trying its best to rid itself of its responsibilities. The system is broken and needs a complete overhaul. We need a national plan to protect our environment, we need a strong and independent watchdog, a national EPA, with teeth to deliver the plan and we need governments of all levels to stop the buck passing and get on with the job.
It’s time for the Australian government to step up and lead the country in a national environment plan that coordinates the states and territories in a truly national effort to protect the environment. Because the simple truth is that without fundamental change, these scandals will keep happening. Threatened species will face extinction. The Reef will continue to suffocate under tonnes of soil. And our environment and our communities will continue to suffer for years to come.
The community was rightly shocked this week by allegations of widespread water theft, meter tampering and what looks very much like corrupt dealings between public servants, politicians and certain irrigators in the Murray Darling basin.
People from southern NSW to South Australia are wondering how in the hell wrongdoing at this scale could go undetected and unchecked for so long. How could a multi-billion dollar program, overseen by the federal government, the NSW government, local governments and the Murray Darling Basin Authority, fail to catch such widespread problems? In response to the allegations, downstream users and political leaders are calling for independent inquiries and new independent bodies to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
That’s fair. From the 2014 Icac coal scandals in NSW, government-run clearing of threatened species in Perth’s Beeliar wetlands and the continued logging of Leadbeater’s possum habitat, despite years of federal and state recovery plans, the need for an independent watchdog for our environment and our communities has long been evident.
But what’s being lost in the furore over the Murray-Darling is that this problem is much bigger than the potential corruption in the system. This is just the latest in a long line of similar failures in our system of environmental protection and governance.
The community rightfully expects a clear and achievable national plan for how we will meet the demands of the 21st century as our environment cracks under the strain of climate change and 200 years of exploitation of natural resources. We expect that our laws ensure all Australians have access to transparent information about the true environmental costs of big developments. We expect leadership to sort out the overly complex and impenetrable soup of federal, state and local bodies that make up our system of environmental oversight.
Unfortunately, we have none of this.
It is a tragic reality that in 2017 our nation still allows the clearing of tens of thousands of hectares of koala habitat and logging of old growth forests full of wildlife. More and more threatened species edge toward extinction each day. Water tables are being irreparably damaged by poorly regulated resource projects, and at the same time 3,000 Australians die each year from air pollution.
In fact, even as the scandal in the Murray-Darling broke this week, we saw yet another chapter in what is arguably the biggest environmental failure in Australia.
Despite Unesco naming water quality as one of the biggest threats to the Great Barrier Reef, widespread clearing of forests and bushlands continues in Reef catchments dumping tonnes of soils across corals already stressed by heat and repeated bleaching.
As a world heritage site supporting 63,000 jobs, the Reef is supposedly protected by both the federal and state governments. The World Heritage Centre singled out stronger clearing laws as a key measure needed to improve the health of the Reef and the federal government has assured Unesco that it will do what it can to control the clearing threatening the future of this national treasure.
But, despite this, the clearing just keeps happening. There are potentially 7,000 properties in Queensland that have or are planning to clear nationally “protected” bush. However, a recent WWF report has found that 99.9% of of those properties are going ahead, despite being required to refer to the federal department before clearing can begin.
To date, the federal department will not reveal how many properties it has investigated. We know there has been zero prosecutions, and it’s estimated that less than ten properties have been referred to the department under our national environment laws.
Even worse, this clearing is largely happening because the previous Queensland government was ramming through laws that went against long standing policy and the Australian government didn’t do a thing about it.
As with the Murray-Darling, our greatest natural assets are caught between self-interested state governments desperately holding on to a mantra of “jobs and growth equals votes” and an utterly disinterested Australian government that is trying its best to rid itself of its responsibilities. The system is broken and needs a complete overhaul. We need a national plan to protect our environment, we need a strong and independent watchdog, a national EPA, with teeth to deliver the plan and we need governments of all levels to stop the buck passing and get on with the job.
It’s time for the Australian government to step up and lead the country in a national environment plan that coordinates the states and territories in a truly national effort to protect the environment. Because the simple truth is that without fundamental change, these scandals will keep happening. Threatened species will face extinction. The Reef will continue to suffocate under tonnes of soil. And our environment and our communities will continue to suffer for years to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment