The River Country campaign is calling on the Victorian Government to stop undermining the Murray-Darling Basin Plan (MDBP). City and country people are rising up to demand that Murray-Darling Rivers are kept alive!
The Federal Governments is trying to reduce the amount of environmental water that was promised for our precious Red Gum forests. Last year the NSW Government was accused of corruption and allowing water theft to occur, and now Victorian Minister for water Lisa Neville has decided to side with NSW by threatening to walk away from the MDBP.
That's why last month, people from around Victoria came together on the steps of Victorian Parliament to call on Daniel Andrews and the Victorian Government to stick up for the Murray and deliver the water that was promised to our fragile Red Gum ecosystems.
We are calling on Daniel Andrews to:
- Deliver the 3,200 GL of water to the environment promised in the Murray Darling Basin Plan
- Provide evidence that all Sustainable Diversion Limit adjustment projects in Victoria meet the conditions set out in the Basin Plan
The Victorian Government wants to take away 605 GL of environmental water that was promised when the MDBP was created. They think that by doing efficiency measures through Sustainable Diversion Limit adjustment projects, they can make up the equivalent environmental outcomes and give more water back to irrigators. However, communities, Traditional Owners and Scientists are all concerned this will impact the health of floodplain forests.
The "Review of Water Reform in the Murray-Darling Basin" by the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists assessed the SDL adjustment projects against 12 conditions to ensure projects are operated in line with the Basin Plan. So far all projects proposed by the Victorian Government have failed to meet these requirements.
Eight years ago Victorian Labor declared over 200,000 ha of River Red Gum National Parks and Reserves, a magnificent legacy. Now they are in danger of undermining their own achievement by stripping water away from these unique forests and wetlands. Without adequate flooding, Red Gum forests will continue to degrade and die.
We are standing with Traditional Owner’s along the Murray, like Wadi Wadi man Cain Chaplin who said “The river is like the blood to our veins. We are one with the land as well as the water. So without water our culture will no longer survive.”
We need culture to survive, we need these forests and floodplains to survive, for everyone. If 605 GL of water gets taken away, or the Victorian Government pulls out of the MDBP, the future of our precious Red Gum Forests will be under threat.
Here is what you can do to help:
Tell the Victorian Government why you love the rivers and floodplains of the Murray-Darling and why you want them to be given the water that they were promised.
Contact the Premier Daniel Andrews phone: (03) 9651 5000 or
Email: [email protected]
AND
Contact the Minister for Water, Lisa Neville MP, phone: (03) 9637 9654 or
Email: [email protected]
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