Hurry Save The Murray!

At the invitation of the Australian Government’s Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, four of us from the Finniss River and Clayton Bay attended the ‘Water for the Future – Community Information Session’ at the Murray Bridge Community Club on Wednesday afternoon. The format was of the sessions was to include a general presentation followed by questions and answers. Then the session broke into groups to discuss topics of interest including the Basin Plan, water purchasing, drought assistance, environmental watering and infrastructure upgrades.

Representatives from the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and other Commonwealth agencies attended to discuss the Basin Plan and drought assistance programs.

There was little that was new in the presentations and the representatives present could not answer a number of the questions posed by locals with intimate knowledge of the region. The level of frustration was high and a number of attendees expressed frustration with this so called ‘consultation’. The number of departmental representatives and consultants present was approximate to those seeking information.