ON THE WALLABY- 30th January 2006

” Whisky is for drinking and water is for fighting over” – a 19th century Californian gold fields saying

Water – the current situation is an object lesson on the incompetence of politicians and a massive underestimation of Australia’s natural patterns

Yes, I know. I have run the above introductory quotation many times over the nine years this website has existed and probably at no time has it been more appropriate than the present as Australia, and the capital cities, Darwin excepted, slide into the grip of drought.

That we are now in this situation says volumes for the incompetence of our politicians, both federal and state for given the bucket loads of money raised through taxation, especially GST, they have given nary a nod to infrastructure development across the nation.

Federally, whilst Howard and Co are now well and truly aboard the environmental band wagon, the fact that they have done virtually nothing to develop infrastructure, be it water or transport, across Australia over the decade they have been in power and levering taxes, is deplorable.

The State governments, NSW in particular, are likewise not blameless and this State, once the powerhouse of the Australian economy, could well be brought to its knees within a few months if rain fails to arrive in the catchment area.

How come?

Because the Carr Government, and now the Iemma Government, although they have lately pushed the action button, remained aloof from such a thing as water and in doing so, completely ignored the fact that we live on the driest continent on Earth and as such, as farmers and rural people well know, you treat water as the liquid gold that it is.

Today we have Queensland going onto treated sewage as the solution – in late 2008!!

In NSW, we have the ludicrous situation where the State is the driest ever, Sydney’s main supply is down to around 30% full and yet what I would call “minor restrictions” are in vogue.

Hell’s bell’s – could someone explain to Premier Iemma and Resources Minister Frank Sartour that if the much wanted rains over Warragamba Dam do not arrive by March, then we are in dire straits indeed and that being able to rig a massive desalination plant up in a short stretch of time in not feasible.

Oops- I forgot – there is a State election in late March so all concerned apparently, both Government and Opposition (led by the incompetant Peter “Mr Immaculate” Debnam), stick their heads in the sand and hope Hughie sends it down!

One of the “gimme’s” of early pastoral Australia was that over a period of 10 years, Australia would have three or four good years, two or three “so-so’s” and the balance drought.

Maybe some of today’s crop of pollies should take the time to read publications such as The Pastoral Review (regrettably now out of print) and earlier editions of The Land, Queensland Country Life etc.

Over the last few years, as a country bred bloke, I have been astounded and dismayed at just how water has become “a commodity” and is now so frequently traded by ”city suits” as just another commodity to dabble in with spiffy mathematics and little regard for the human factor of what they are doing.

Some of these properties had water quotas of over 25,000 megalitres – a massive amount of water, and whilst acknowledging that 40% of Australia’s agricultural income is derived from the Murray Darling Rivers Basin, the simple mathematical fact is that more water was allocated that could flow down them.

Well, Mother Nature has again, as she always has in the past, stepped in to teach we mere mortals (but who credit ourselves with such a high status) that we are not infallible.

So what’s the solution?

That is, to use John Howard’s figures, at least a $10 billion dollar question but my observation is that when it does rain, and it will, much of the lessons supposedly learnt will be as quickly forgotten.

People bitch about the cost of petrol at $1.40 a litre and yet quite readily pay anywhere between $2.50 and $3.00 for a 600 millilitre bottle of water.

And the cost of water to your home?

Depending where you are but probably about $10 a thousand gallons so I ask you, where is the logic in all that? Water will have to become dearer but on the proviso that it is not used as a cash cow by Government, whatever level it may be at.

As a young bloke growing up in Grenfell in the south west of NSW, as conditions got drier, we all became used to tapping the horizontal rings on the water tank(s) to estimate our usage and how much we had left.

Maybe if more city folks did the same, and appreciated what it meant, we would have more public pressure on government to sort the infrastructure malaise out.

As the saying goes “if it’s to be, it’s up to me”. And you!!

Carpe diem

Tony

Tony Fountain

Professional Speaker, auctioneer and author

Sydney NSW Australia

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