Posted on February 11, 2021
I looked at the calendar, saw it was the first day of the month and thought it must be April Fool’s Day.
That was my immediate reaction to claims announced on Monday, February 1 that the reduced capacity of the Barmah Choke is from 19th century goldmining.
The bizarre finding was announced by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, and it is amid growing concerns over the environmental degradation along the Murray River from increased flows.
In fact, the real reason for problems with the Barmah Choke is that we are trying to force too much water down our rivers, which is damaging the environment along the way.
If the MDBA bothered talking to multi-generational river families, that’s what it will learn.
Instead it comes up with these pie-eyed ideas to justify the failing basin plan, which was built on false assumptions and poor science.
The MDBA tells us “we are still seeing the impacts of legacy issues from almost 200 years ago” and that “ensuring a sustainable future for the river is a mammoth undertaking and it is not something that can happen overnight”.
Of course, we can’t return the river to what it was like 200 years ago because of the infrastructure that has been built and the downstream demands, especially in South Australia.
If we go back 200 years (or even only 100), we know the Murray River was dry during times of drought and could be crossed by a bullock dray (as photos have shown).
It is also interesting that the MDBA blames an activity from 200 years ago when it’s convenient, but ignores history when it’s not.
For example, the Lower Lakes in South Australia were estuarine before the barrages were constructed less than a century ago.
Now, because it suits the narrative, the MDBA wants to insist that they were historically freshwater lakes.
It conveniently forgets evidence such as major mulloway breeding grounds, and shark or dolphin activity upstream of these lakes.
It is unfortunate that it has reached a point where we find it almost impossible to take the MDBA seriously.
One can only conclude that a politically determined flow target to SA, coupled with a $13 billion taxpayer ‘carrot’ to achieve it, takes precedence over peer-reviewed science and common-sense decision making.
Maybe one day, as a nation, we will wake up to the con they call a basin plan before our food production capacities are totally decimated.
Peter McCallum
Moama
