ON THE WALLABY- 18th October 2006

"Whiskies for drinking and water is for fighting over” – 19th century Californian goldfields saying.

DROUGHT – MOTHER NATURE’S NEMESIS FOR AUSTRALIA

In a fact, long appreciated by the Aboriginal people, but seemingly given scant regard by Australia’s modern day urban dwellers and politicians, is that Australia is the driest continent on Earth and that water is her most precious commodity.

Now, as rural areas face the worse drought in over a century and the water supplies of our major cities are heading for 30% capacity or less, alarm bells are starting to ring amongst some.

That angst is small compared to what will probably eventuate if rains do not come – and that is a forlorn hope, given that southern Australia is a winter rainfall area.

Today, whilst addressing a group of Sydney real estate agents, I asked the question of them of “how will your values hold up here when the government bans water in swimming pools?”

Stunned faces looked at me and then a number ventured the suggestion that no government would go that far on a safety issue.

Much to their bewilderment, I said it has nothing to do with safety but everything to do with water and collectively, the backyard swimming pools of Sydney not only hold a lot of water, they also consume a massive amount when they are being topped up daily over summer.

It would not surprise me, indeed it would dismay me, if they did not take such an action for having been raised in a farming community with no big dam or river from which we could draw water supplies, I know on a first hand basis what measures you have to take to maximise diminishing water supplies.

But water is not the only area where this drought will take a toll.

The human cost, through adversity caused in rural areas, will be enormous and it is an area that city people most probably have no inkling whatsoever about just how traumatic it can be.

From a farmers point of view (and I have stood there in a dust filled paddock running water for 250 very thirsty steers, only to see that liquid gold disappear smartly and have to do the whole exercise again with 24 hours, and the next, and the next) there is very little as soul destroying as watching years of sweat, blood and tears put into a herd or flock of breeding stock slowly starving before your eyes, watching crops emerge from the ground and then slowly whither as the lack of rain and excess heat take their toll, your income plummeting as stock are sold for a lesser and lesser amount and then having to face your family every night with no change in sight.

Add to that having to go to town and, with an ever increasing credit bill at your local grocery store, stock and station agent and/or machinery dealer and it is no wonder that times such as this see a soaring of the suicide rate within rural communities.

For it is not only the farmers and their families who take the hits, the town businesses do as well and this was brought home to me starkly when talking with a dear friend at Grenfell, the small town I was raised in, when he said that two local businesses had stood down around 30 workers.

That will have a catastrophic effect on the local community for, unlike a large city like Sydney, they do not have the luxury of being able to travel to another suburb some kilometres away to find another job.

In a year such as this, the next town, probably 30- 60 miles away, it also being hit hard by the drought and virtually no additional jobs are or will be available.

Net result is people on the dole and poverty starts to rest its nasty head for whilst country people are proud, there always comes the day when ”enough is enough”.

This then spins on as food is increasingly more expensive to grow and transport and food prices then rise in the cities, increasing the cost of living and in turn, contributing to inflationary pressures, which in turn will most probably lead to further Reserve Bank interest rate rises.

Are you starting to get my drift?

So I ask the question that we all should ask?

How come politicians of all persuasions over the last three decades have frittered away the money and not spent it on infrastructure? We have been a nation living above our means for many years and it seems to me that Mother Nature, whom, as I know from my flying and blue water sailing times, you muck about with at your peril, is calling in the cards.

With the Murray and Darling Rivers on the verge of collapse , the outlook is very grim and sadly, I don’t see any politicians there who have the guts to do what will be needed to remedy the situation .

I hope I am proven wrong.

Carpe diem

Tony

Tony Fountain

Professional Speaker, auctioneer and author

Sydney NSW Australia

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