Speak Up Campaign deputy chair Lachlan Marshall said any investment in dams and securing water for future generations was a step in the right direction. But he said we need to learn from past mistakes.
Federal Nationals’ leader Michael McCormack announced the National Water Grid before Saturday’s election, saying it would ‘‘bring together the world’s best scientists to take politics out of the way water is captured and stored in Australia’’.
Mr Marshall said a multi-generational rather than a political approach to water policy is well overdue, and desperately needed with a population expected to increase 60 per cent to 37.6 million by 2050.
‘‘We are going to need a significantly different approach if we want to feed these people and protect an export industry that contributes billions of dollars to our economy.
‘‘The current approach to water management is not working and we must become a lot smarter around how we use our most precious resource.
‘‘Rain does not always fall where we need it, and often there is excess rain where it is not needed. We must become innovative in the way we deal with effectively storing and managing the excess.’’
While Mr Marshall congratulated the Deputy Prime Minister on the National Water Grid proposal, he said we must learn from past mistakes, in particular the politicising of science.
‘‘Unfortunately, as we have seen with the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, politics and science go hand in hand. Governments fund the scientists, so too often we get the results governments are looking for, instead of the effective balance that is required to achieve good policy.
‘‘And as we have seen in Queensland with Professor Peter Ridd — and there are other examples — a scientist who does not ‘toe the line’ can be ostracised and have their career and livelihood threatened.
‘‘The politicising of science has led to flaws in the Basin Plan, which some scientists are prepared to call out, while it appears others want to ignore them.
‘‘As a consequence we have the equivalent of more than half a Sydney Harbour running over the banks of the Murray River and into forests being wasted; we have river bank slumping and damage to the iconic Barmah Choke, and we have a carp breeding explosion. All this is occurring because we are trying to force undeliverable volumes of water to South Australia because politicians, with the backing of some scientists, want fresh water in a once estuarine system.’’
Mr Marshall added as well as investing many more millions in infrastructure, we also need to ensure use of the existing infrastructure is maximised.
‘‘Our forefathers invested billions of dollars — not to mention the blood, sweat and tears — into building one of the best gravity feed irrigation systems in the world across the New South Wales Murray region.
‘‘Yet this year it is virtually idle, with food producers on a zero per cent allocation, while massive amounts of water poured by and went to waste through flooding, evaporation and transmission losses. In our region the infrastructure to drought-proof one of the nation’s biggest food bowls is drastically under-utilised, so surely this should be addressed before more billions are spent.’’
Mr Marshall said a dedicated team to solve the nation’s water woes is needed and with the right direction and leadership the National Water Grid could be part of the solution.
‘‘This may be the last opportunity we have to untangle the web of alleged deals, the flawed science and the use of water as an investment tool instead of being the essential source of production and environmental benefit. But perhaps the first step should be to review and revise the Basin Plan, unlocking its obvious flaws and assessing whether its objectives meet the long term interests of Australia.’’