16 News

The Government’s “native fish plan” is akin to shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic, the Greens say.
Greens Spokesperson for Water Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said: “Our nation’s biggest river system is in environmental collapse and farming communities are suffering because the Government has mismanaged the Basin and let greedy corporate irrigators to take too much water.
“The Water Minister’s claim the Government is “doing all (they) can until it rains” is simply false.
“Praying for rain is not a drought policy or a plan to save the River.
“While splashing around money to breed native fish, the Coalition’s cuts to environmental flows means there is no water for the fish to survive. Just like shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic, this Government has no plan to save the Murray-Darling Basin.
“There will be more mass fish kills this summer because the Morrison Government has allowed big corporate irrigators to take more and more water so there’s nothing left to keep the River alive”.
“The Minister has tried to claim the Government is investing in science to deal with the fish deaths.
“Newsflash Minister, the science says you must act on the climate crisis. The science says you need to end over extraction by big corporate irrigators. The science says dams are not the answer to a lack of water. The science says floodwater harvesting by big corporates stops water running in the Rivers when it does eventually rain.
“If the Water and Drought Minister was doing his job properly he would act on the science and push his Government to get a climate policy because you do not have a drought policy if you do not have a plan to tackle the climate emergency.”

The Morrison and Berejiklian Governments will deliver a $1 billion water infrastructure package for rural and regional communities impacted by the devastating drought in NSW.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison, New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian, Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack and Deputy Premier John Barilaro said both Liberal and Nationals governments had been working together to fund critical water infrastructure projects, including new and expanded dam projects.
“Our response to the ongoing drought impacting rural and regional communities is comprehensive and committed. It deals with immediate needs for financial assistance in and longer term investments to build drought resilience for the future,” the Prime Minister said.
“And it’s not set and forget. We are continually adding to our drought response, saying loud and clear that we’re backing Australians who are battling the drought.
“Together we’ll deliver a $650 million upgrade of Wyangala Dam in the state’s Central West and a $480 million new Dungowan Dam near Tamworth.
“Our 50/50 investment with the state government in these priority large-scale water infrastructure projects will free up NSW funding to allow them to progress critical town water projects across NSW. We want to get these projects underway because this is about water supply and security.
“These projects don’t happen overnight but we’re working as quickly as possible to get all the necessary work done so we can start digging.
“We’re also investing an initial $24 million on a 50/50 basis with NSW for the 100,000-megalitre proposed Border Rivers project on the Mole River, near the Queensland border. This will ensure the project is shovel ready and help to identify the potential benefits that could flow on to irrigators and local communities in NSW and potentially Queensland.
“This funding brings our water infrastructure commitments to $1.5 billion across 21 projects that are committed or underway. This is part of more than $7 billion in drought support funding that we are already providing and have committed.”
Ms Berejiklian said the NSW Government has already committed close to $3 billion to drought relief and water security since 2017.
“In partnership with the Commonwealth, we will build the first new dam in NSW for more than 30 years. The last was Split Rock Dam on the Manilla River in 1987. That’s why today’s announcement is historic,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“The NSW Government is working in lockstep with the Commonwealth to make absolutely certain all obstacles are cleared and these dams get built.
“Our regional and rural communities are doing it incredibly tough and that’s why we’re making this massive additional investment in partnership with the Commonwealth Government.
“This builds on the NSW Government’s record $3 billion in drought support and water security announced since 2017, including funding for 60 bores across 23 communities and 14 pipelines, such as that from Wentworth to Broken Hill.
“Dams and other water infrastructure are an important part of the mix when it comes to increasing supply and reliability so that NSW’s water supply is more resilient to the terrible drought being experienced across the eastern states.”
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development Michael McCormack said the funding would prioritise all necessary business case development and design works.
“We are already making significant investments in water infrastructure capital projects nationwide and today’s announcement signals a major acceleration of that commitment,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.
“No one should doubt our commitment to getting these sorts of projects done in partnership with all states and territories – our $1.3 billion National Water Infrastructure Development Fund and $2 billion National Water Infrastructure Loan Facility are in place to deliver the planning, assessment and construction work needed to build the water infrastructure of the 21st century.
“These projects will fit into our strategic plan for improving regional water security through water infrastructure led by the National Water Grid Authority.”
Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional New South Wales John Barilaro said the NSW Government has been getting on with building critical water infrastructure projects but this was a significant turning point to future-proof the state.
“Only last week I was pleased to officially switch on the $12.85 million Malpas Dam to Guyra pipeline in the Northern Tablelands region, a project completed on time and under budget by the NSW Government,” the Deputy Premier said.
“This partnership with the Federal Liberal and Nationals Government will mean more projects, in faster time frames.
“Our priority is to get these major projects off the ground as quickly as possible, to combat ‘day zero’ and help regional and rural communities in NSW get through this devastating drought.”
Formalised agreements between the Federal and NSW Governments outlining the timeframes will be finalised shortly.

As the IMF warns that even a $111 carbon price in Australia will be insufficient to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, Greens’ climate and energy spokesperson, Adam Bandt, announced that the Greens will introduce legislation on Monday to make the mining, burning and exporting of thermal coal by corporations and their executives (but not workers) a crime after 2030.
“The climate emergency is so severe that a carbon price alone will no longer fix the problem,” said Mr Bandt.
“When it comes to phasing out coal by 2030 as the science requires, even the IMF has acknowledged that a carbon price is necessary but not sufficient.
“The Greens will continue to argue for the revival of the Greens/Labor carbon price, the only policy to successfully reduce pollution, but the Liberals have lifted pollution so much that we need to do more.
“Coal is the next asbestos.
“Like asbestos and tobacco, we now know things about coal we didn’t know before. We now know that coal kills people when used as directed, so we need to treat it like asbestos and regulate its phase-out.
“The Greens’ bill will steadily phase-out the export of thermal coal until it ends in 2030 and will prohibit the construction or expansion of any new coal mines or power stations.
“We must support workers and communities through the transition, which means finding decent, well-paid jobs for coal regions. Our bill also puts the liability on big corporations and their executives, not the coal workers who have helped power our country over our history.”