Why are we ignoring impacts of climate change?

Despite all the political rhetoric, Australia is not prepared for the impacts of climate change and, in fact, its position is getting worse instead of better.

As scientists warn of increased frequency and severity of droughts and floods, the nation’s planning for these events continues to be grossly inadequate.

Witnesses at an inquiry have urged the  NSW Government to take a stronger stand against water buybacks as part of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, which are not only having an immediate social and economic impact, but limiting our drought and flood preparedness.

“The nation is facing dire economic and social consequences during the next drought as we are totally unprepared,” Speak Up Deputy Chair David Farley, who is also Executive Chair of Matrix Commodities, told the NSW Government inquiry into impacts of the 2003 Water Amendment Bill on the state’s regional communities.

“Our forefathers intelligently invested in water assets to protect Australia’s food security, but through water buybacks this is all being taken away. The investment thesis is upside down. Australia should be investing in water storage, logistics and water conservation assets that have social and commercial intrinsic value, as opposed to decommissioning the inherent value of irrigation water as we are currently seeing,” Mr Farley said.

The Speak Up Campaign says it is time for action to address unintended consequences of the Basin Plan, instead of the current Federal Government approach of barging ahead with no consideration for adverse impacts and community risks.

“Communities have been writing submissions and presenting at inquiries for decades, and there is never action. It was clear from those who attended NSW Government hearings in Deniliquin and Griffith it is time for action and for NSW to take a new direction.

“At some point, a government needs to stand up, call out the plan’s damage and demand a different approach. With New South Wales so seriously affected, our state government should be leading the way in this process,” Mr Farley said.

“How long do we accept a situation where a global company like SunRice, a world leader in its field, could be forced off-shore by poor government policy, as the Deniliquin inquiry was told? The Federal Government talks about the importance of productivity, but it doesn’t ‘walk the talk’. It would be a national disgrace if we lost our rice industry, and put another dent in the food security coffin, purely to pursue environmental ideologies from this flawed Basin Plan,” Mr Farley said.

It was clear from hearings in both Deniliquin and Griffith that the impacts of water buybacks are flowing through both communities. Jobs are being lost, Australia’s food producing capability is being compromised and unintended environmental damage is being ignored.

“What happens when the next drought hits?” Mr Farley has asked.

“Thirty per cent of the past century have been drought periods, running on average for five years. Are we happy to import food, pay more at the supermarket for poorer quality and watch communities die because we have taken so much water from productive use?

“And when we get more unexpected rains, which the scientists tell us is inevitable under climate change scenarios, do we sit back and watch towns get flooded, yet again, because we have too much water stored in dams instead of using it effectively via world’s best irrigation, year on year, as our forefathers intended?

“Do we continue ruining iconic rivers because the Basin Plan’s ‘just add water’ approach is resulting in a proliferation of carp breeding and the damage they cause continues to explode? Or allow river banks to be destroyed because we are forcing massive quantities to South Australia for political purposes, not environmental ones?

“These are questions that were raised at the hearings and it is time they were addressed, not swept under the carpet.

“The hearings were told over and over that buybacks and the 450 gigalitre component of the Basin Plan need to be reviewed as a matter of urgency.

“Our hope is that the NSW Government inquiry will not be a waste of our time and effort; just a box-ticking exercise, as we have seen far too many times before.

“Someone needs to step up … we are calling on the NSW Government to be that ‘someone’,” Mr Farley concluded.

Caption: David Farley (right) listens as Darren De Bortoli (left) gives evidence at the Griffith Public Hearing on Wednesday.