Water expert fears Traveston dam may mirror Murray-Darling woes

16 NOV 2007

An academic from the Australian National University says the Queensland Government’s efforts to provide water for the south-east corner could create another Murray-Darling Basin situation.

The State Government is preparing a submission for Commonwealth approval to create the Traveston Crossing dam on the Mary River near Gympie.

Fresh water systems expert Arthur Georges says he is concerned it is the first step toward over-using the system in the same way the Murray-Darling has been.

Mr Georges says he is disappointed a dam has been proposed for one of Queensland’s last free flowing rivers.

“What I’d hate to see is for us to be making the same mistakes in eastern Queensland as have been made in the Murray-Darling and future generations having to foot the bill for remedial work in the same way as we’re seeing the substantial investment that’s required in the Murray-Darling,” he said.

Murray River in crisis: Shame of a nation

SPECIAL REPORT: By Alison Rehn

July 12, 2008

IT HAS been celebrated in film, poetry and song, but today the nation’s most iconic river is on the verge of collapse - and does anybody care?

Exactly 25 years after we rallied to save the Franklin River, The Daily Telegraph today calls on Australians to wake up and act to rescue the Murray River from its long, slow death.

With scientists declaring the river is on life support, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is under pressure to drop everything and focus his attention on saving the Murray-Darling Basin - the nation’s food bowl - from extinction.

While Mr Rudd is busy crafting a national emissions scheme following the Garnaut climate change report - on which opinion is divided - there is no argument that the Murray is an

lifeblood after 100 years’ neglect this, I think there will be parts of the river that will be beyond saving,” he said.

Under a recent agreement all the states are providing water back to the river for environmental purposes, but with NSW doing the lion’s share at 72 per cent, Mr Rees called on the other states to pull their weight.

Controversially, Mr Rees said the Federal Government might be forced to compulsorily acquire water from irrigators, a move that would anger and devastate farm families.

Mandatory buy backs are one measure backed by environmentalists, who say a number of native species are dying.

Averil Bones, WWF Australia’s Freshwater Policy Manager said wetland birds were dying out because they can’t breed, pelicans haven’t bred on the famous film Storm Boy’s Pelican Island since 1998, and turtles were suffering from barnacle encrustation causing slow death.

“Areas where the water is receding, we find turtles dead like stepping stones across the mud,” she said.

“Native fish habitat has declined disastrously and the Murray cod is on the brink of extinction.”

At the recent Council of Australian Governments meeting Mr Rudd and state premiers agreed to establish a single national authority to oversee the management of the river.

South Australian Premier Mike Rann welcomed the move, but took a swipe at Victorian counterpart John Brumby and his predecessor Steve Bracks for delaying the agreement for 18 months.

“For 100 years the River Murray has been mismanaged - for 100 years the River Murray has been run as if it was four rivers rather than one,” he said.

“We have had 11 years of total neglect and indifference under the Howard Government and a further delay of 18 months due to Victorian intransigence.

“This is absolutely a national issue and it requires a national response.”

Climate Change and Water Minister Penny Wong told The Daily Telegraph “we are up against it in the Murray-Darling Basin.

Senator Wong said the Government was in the process of spending $3.1 billion buying back water from farmers on a voluntary basis, and a further $5.8 billion on improving infrastructure and water efficiency measures throughout the basin.

Greens leader Bob Brown, who was among hundreds of Australians sent to jail for blockading the damming of the Franklin, said the cotton industry had “passed its use-by date”, and the rice industry had to prove its sustainability.

He also took a swipe at Mr Brumby’s thorn-in-the-side approach to fixing the Murray.

“If Mr Brumby was as interested in the Murray Darling as he is in the Grand Prix we’d be right,” he said.