LL:ART: Water Crisis. Howard Govts. $1.5 billion non-solution

[Communist Party of Australia]

The following article was published in "The Guardian", newspaper
of the Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday,
October 17th, 2000. Contact address: 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills.
Sydney. 2010 Australia. Phone: (612) 9212 6855 Fax: (612) 9281 5795.
CPA Central Committee: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
"The Guardian": <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Webpage: http://www.cpa.org.au>
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WATER CRISIS. HOWARD GVT'S $1.5b. NON-SOLUTION

The Howard Government last week offered the state governments a
total of $1.5 billion in grants as a first step to tackle the
environmental crisis of salinity. But the scheme does not attack
the problem as a national crisis that effects the water supply in
what is the driest continent on earth and renders the land
unusable. Instead, the Government has again dumped a
responsibility that should be dealt with by the Commonwealth on
the states.

by Peter Mac

States will be offered financial inducements (with conditions
which some will most likely reject) and will be left with the
responsibility for control of land clearance (which they are
unlikely to act on).

Salinity is caused by land clearance and/or over-irrigation,
allowing salt to rise and contaminate water supplies and the
soil.

It has devastated huge areas of irrigated land around Australia
and is dramatically on the increase in areas of Queensland, where
land clearance has been allowed to go unfettered, with disastrous
results, for the past several years.

A recent estimate put the total cost to remedy salinity on a
national basis as $65 billion, to be spent over the next ten
years.

The salinity problem has major implications for the continued
viability of agriculture, and is of fundamental concern for
Australia's natural environment.

The states will qualify for the grants if they contribute on a
dollar-for-dollar basis, implement specific salinity management
plans and prohibit land clearing where it would "lead to
unacceptable land or water degradation".

Greens Senator Bob Brown described the scheme as "a half
measure", noting that, "It is the carrot without the stick.
Missing is the use of Commonwealth powers to put an end to the
massive land clearance, particularly in Queensland, which is a
recipe for future salination and water degradation costing the
nation billions."

Those state governments that have so far allowed land clearance
to proceed without interference are unlikely to spend money for
remedial works, even if the Commonwealth pays half the bill, and
will certainly not intervene to prevent further clearance.

The Queensland Government, for example, has treated the
announcement of the federal scheme with ill-concealed contempt,
and has expressed considerable skepticism about the scheme's
likelihood of success.

And well they might! The scheme is expected to concentrate
initially on tradable "water credits". The use of credits is a
dubious method for achieving environmental objectives, their use
could actually result in some areas experiencing a worsening of
water quality, providing that improvements are obtained
elsewhere.

The scheme is also very vague in terms of the land clearance
issue, and leaves the state governments with the responsibility
for setting standards and timetables, each of which may vary from
the other.

The crucial issue of what constitutes an "unacceptable" level of
water or land degradation is also left to individual states.

Those states worst affected by salinity, such as South Australia,
are the most likely to set reasonably high standards, although
they are all likely to be subjected to heavy lobbying by major
landholders with a view to minimising any control over their
operations.

The Queensland Government, which in recent years has presided
over the most destructive land clearance in Australia's history,
is unlikely to participate in the scheme, and even if it did so
it could confidently be expected to set a particularly low
standard, based on its performance to date.

The use of penalties is crucial to any scheme that aims to
reverse land clearance and other land management practices that
degrade the environment. However, the use of penalties was
apparently never seriously considered by Federal cabinet.

What is needed for tackling salinity is immediate, firm and
decisive federal action to achieve long-term sustainability,
based on adequate research and coupled with adequate funding for
remedial works and means-tested assistance to farming
communities.

In contrast, what the Howard Government has offered is a poorly-
funded pilot project with no real teeth and little possibility of
getting the assistance or cooperation of the worst-offending
state governments.


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