Hurry Save The Murray!

A sunny morning at the Fresh Water Embassy and we were all there.

South Australian Minister for the Environment, Jay Weatherill, had asked to meet with us. His office had said some time between 11.30 and 2.00pm. We took time off work, cut short other commitments and we waited, and waited, and waited.

We phoned the Department for Environment and Heritage (DEH) to find out where he was. They had no idea and did not have a contact number for him. We waited.

At 1.38pm we phoned Peter Croft, Director, Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth Projects, DEH, who was on the tour with the Minister and left a message. He didn’t pick up the phone or return the call.

Over 60 people came and went at the Embassy. Some 25 staff members of the Embassy continued to wait.

We waited 3 hours.

Then at 2.35pm came a call from Peter Croft’s office in the DEH to say the Minister had run out of time and would not be visiting.

We went ahead with the meeting anyway. We made our speeches to an empty chair and made our presentation to an invisible Minister.

Here is what we said to the man who wasn’t there.
We are most appreciative that you are visiting the Fresh Water Embassy and that you initiated a meeting with the River, Lakes and Coorong Action Group Inc. (RLCAG) and the Finniss Catchment Group Inc. (FCG).

We are making history today. This is the first time a member of your government has recognised us as a group and sat with us. We hope it will not be the last.

We want to work with you as Minister for the Environment and some of us have had the pleasure of working with you in other capacities.

Amongst us we have thousands of years of tested knowledge and tried experience. We have been good stewards of the land, care deeply for the area and believe these “Regulators” are dangerous, unnecessary and will do damage far beyond the footprint of the construction.

We see the tributaries recovering. The rains are diluting the acid. The salinity is down. The liming has assisted with hot spots. The country is greening up. The Acid Sulfate Soils are being reclaimed. The bioremediation is working. Let that process work. Let us see the results of the tests.

These Regulators are an emergency measure but there is no emergency.

We ask that you

· call a halt to the construction today;

· immediately establish an Independent Review;

· work with us in setting the terms of reference.

Independent scientists are speaking out. Dr. Mike Geddes, Evolutionary Ecology, Adelaide University; Dr Keith Walker; Fresh Water Ecologist. They are highly critical of these structures and their opinions are based on sound science. The science of soil chemistry has dominated the debate. We ask that you listen to ecologists who speak for the whole system.

All things are connected. We know that. The Ngarrindjeri know that. Do not disconnect the River Murray from the mouth. Do not block the fresh water flow from the tributaries to Lake Alexandrina and the River Murray to the sea. We can make history today. Please work with us.

This message is from the staff of the Fresh Water Embassy which includes doctors, scientists, engineers, farmers, cattle growers, fishermen, wine growers, olive growers, artists, authors and many, many more.

For those who were not present or would like to relive the historic meeting, here are some photographs.

All in all it was one of our better non-meetings with the South Australian Government. We were able to speak. There was no spin and no power point presentations.

We saw the Minister’s plane as it took his party back to Adelaide.

At 4.40pm Peter Croft (DEH) rang to say they had just run out of time on their visit.