Well it’s become quite clear that our politicians have no answers when it comes to fixing Australia’s water crisis. Years of mismanagement, bureaucratic bungling and inaction has brought Australia’s agriculture sector to its knees.
Every man and his dog have declared themselves an expert on how to fix it and there have even been calls for a Royal Commission. I think we’ve gone beyond that. Simply because of the time it takes to carry out a Royal Commission, the time it takes to make its recommendations and then more time to implement whatever recommendations.
However, the real travesty is our governments, Federal and State, won’t even fix the things that everybody agrees are wrong.
It’s time for an immediate audit of all water in Australia. Why? Because we know that the Murray Darling Basin Authority is wasting water, and now we hear that coal mines are stealing it. I hear you say “but water theft has been happening for ages”. Yes, but it’s not always that easy to prove. In the case of one particular mine that is contributing to the crisis facing our farming land, it needs to stop.
I’m a big supporter of coal mining. But we must make sure it’s done properly and follows all conditions placed upon it.
The big question is, who do we trust to carry out such an audit? The five Governments involved can’t agree on anything and the independent regulator has proved to be useless. Who is left to fix this debacle?