Do not be too hood winked by the plight of the "poor farmers".
As a regular visitor to the region the issue is not that simple and there has been a great deal of nonsense.
Of course it all started with an American! Chafey is something of a cult hero. He came up with the idea of creating a huge agricultural industry in a country with very limited rain fall. How did he do it? By irrigating a river!
THere are crops grown which are hard to justify.
THe cotton industry was started to prop up an Australian owned textile manufacturing industry. That has gone! So how on earth is this justified.
The so called silly Greens (frankly the only voice of sanity in this country) had some vision. Vision? Remember that?
Today the river is irrigated for grapes. No not for dried fruit which is another dying industry or grapes for the table but for wine! Are these industries employing hundreds of Aussies? NO.
Of course climate change is central to this but once again the sceptics are winning, forget science lets listen to the corporations.
Its rather like taxing the poor hard done by mining industry. What utter garbage!
Speaking of water. When I flew back from China I flew over Lake Eyre in South Australia. It was an amazing sight! It was full of water. I would have loved to stop and take a closer look!
Cheers, glen
Of course the stupid climate change skeptics are going to say thats a perfect example of the lie of climate change Glen.
The sceptics are driving me nuts.
Well someone will, in 100 years, be able to say "I told you so!". I wonder if you can place a bet on climate change or global warming?
Well said Of course even if by some incredibly slim chance there was no truth behind climate change... the lower pollution, new jobs etc created by climate change technology can only be a plus.
I saw Arnold Schwarzenegger on tv before and he was saying how california is miles ahead the rest of the USA (in terms of clean energy industry) and he was saying he was quite disappointed with the USA federal government lack of action <img src='http://www.melbournechat.org/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='
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Its rather difficult to really say whether or not action on climate change is too late. Of course taking some action now would be better than doing nothing. I have friends who throw their hands up in despair that the skeptics have such power. A few weeks of good rain fall and they claim that climate change is a myth. It shows that they simply don't get, the complexities of climate change are enormous.
Without pushing a political band wagon the environmental dangers of losing the Murray to irrigation is enormous. Irrigation is not backing up much needed agricultural but luxury industries like wine, cotton and even rice. It backs up industries that cannot be sustained as the areas have long had low rainfall.... today it is due to climate change much worse. Interesting at the expense of backing up these industries the citrus industry which did have some justification is dead.
The Greens are the only party with an intelligent response to the Murray but as always they are ridiculed. The Greens will be known in the future as the party we should have listened to.
Boy Peter you are firing today!
Sit on a rock and meditate! Hug a tree like I do.
Ah sweet memory. The statue was the thinker. Dobbie Gillis was a great show.
Look I am rather disappointed with the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition on a few issues which should be given a conscience vote.
I will always think that Kevin Rudd was a man of vision and ALP should have gone to the election .. win or lose with him at the helm. I have learned that whether its a Liberal or Labor pollie those with vision do not last long.
The wallet and greed wins always.
I know many here disagree and are not Rudd admirers.. that's fine but the ALP made the huge mistake of forgetting just how good Rudd was on the hustings. I doubt they would have won but Miss Gillard would have had a smooth ride into leadership.
Of course if Malcom Turnbull takes over leadership which I predict he will the ALP may lose. I might even vote Liberal.
Still its all over and Gillard is doing a pretty good job, she did impress my friends in Indonesia. I think our PMS should spend MORE time over seas. Sir Robert Menzies was frequently (wrongly) attacked for spending too much time abroad.
Both major parties should think about the late Robert Kennedy who once said that although it wont do much for the popular vote in the end a decent Government will be judged ethically on its treatment of minorities.
Only the Greens took a stand on issues like gay marriage and euthanasia. OK these are not important issues to many here but I am deeply saddened by the decision not to take a conscience vote.
[quote name='PeterJMelb' timestamp='1288754220' post='30786']
BTW the hairdresser tagging along looks just ridiculous!
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Yeah I thought it looked pretty funny. Julia says "Hi there,.... this is my boyfriend!!!"
Just seemed a bit weird.
Why Glen?
Are you suggesting she should be married? I hope not.
Please.. I hope not.
Lets face it it looked less absurd than John Howard and the his wife. What a quaint non entity she was. I always thought they looked quite gruesome together.
Bob Brown and his partner look cute.
No I am not saying they should get married just so international visits look less weird! That would be a silly reason to marry! <img src='http://www.melbournechat.org/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='
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I never saw Bob Brown's partner. I forget what Mrs Howard look like. Though I do remember Julia's hairdresser boyfriend! At least for now. I guess I will forget about that one too soon enough.
We prefer partner Peter but thats ok.
Back to the Murray River. Mildura has a great future in tourism and new sustainable agriculture but they need someone with vision, They have been lead by independents and nationals completely out of touch.Because of irrigation the river is dying.
I go there quite often Peter. Its a lovely place but the environmental issues are serious. Carp is also a huge problem destroying our beautiful (for eating and admiring) native fish. The Murray co is in serious decline. all fishing should be banned for two years unless its carp!!
speaking of fishing the murray, i tried around echuca and albury and the carp was not as bad as I expected! Though I never tried down near Mildura! <img src='http://www.melbournechat.org/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='
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Its very serious Glen.
Not only that as the wine industry and others use so much irrigation water the locals are deeply concerned. Its not a silly 'greenie" issue!!!
Of course a few other questionable schemes are killing the river as well.
I am not really pro gambling but the plan to open a casino in Mildura may well be a great thing for the local industries. There has been development of multi billion $$$ river marina built for a river in trouble. Its just absurd.
Orange industries and citrus yes but wine, rice, cotton etc... stupid.
And strange that this fish was introduced.
I am all for recreational fishing but I think there needs to be a cessation period.
Maybe all wine lovers should stop drinking wine for a year to save the river! I would be happy to participate. I think wine is overrated anyway!! <img src='http://www.melbournechat.org/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='
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Of course originally it was the dried fruit industry that sustained the region but like canned fruit we are simply not eating as much of it as we used to. The grape industry moved onto wine. I still think the citrus industry deserved support but we let it die. This once booming industry is as good as dead.
Actually there is nothing wrong with wine BUT in an area climatically unsuited to that kind of agriculture in the first place it is odd that the environment is being devastated for what it is a non essential item. There are many industrious Murray people trying new industries but they need more support. Don't laugh but everything from yabbie farming, river fish farming to bush fruits are being tried with great success. I like wine as much as anyone and want to support Australian industry but in the river districts its not sustainable.
Proposals of bringing Murray water to Melbourne is absurd in my opinion but I think this idea seems to be falling by the way side.
While Brumby and his Government have done some remarkable things (especially in education) I fail to see why they think it is such a crazy idea to make more use of recycled water and especially productive use of storm water. Singapore has had recycled water at least for industry for years ! I have serious environmental concerns about desalination but I am willing to be corrected. Maybe others can enlighten me. It sounds like a great idea but if it is going to destroy Wilson's Prom as some are claiming that is a price too high to pay.
I think that both leaders of the LIbs and ALP are deeply concerned about the issue and I think both are honourable in their intentions but its time to listen to scientists and NOT the vested interests. The changes we need to make will be enormous but essential. Its rather like the ETS. Australia made a huge mistake not supporting the Rudd proposal. The Greens (my own party) were disappointing. They basically said if we cannot have what we want you cannot have anything. This happens too much on all sides in this country. As it is we did nothing. Pity as I hoped that for once Australia could lead the world on something!! Perhaps USA and others would follow. They will have to but its getting dangerously too late.
I wont go about the ETS except it is inevitable regardless of which party leads except the longer we prolong it the more expensive it is going to be and even less effective.
Of course the suggestion of simply building more dams is spurious as with limited rainfall we will be building huge half empty holes!!
Forget Lib vs Labor; neither party seems to have very progressive answers to what is a growing problem. Tanks in back yards are a great idea and should have started generations ago yet both parties lacked the vision.
Yeah I think tank water is a great idea too. My dad has a backyard half full of tanks from bunnings. Each is about 500L.
In a way, the last drought we had was a GOOD THING because it really had a profound impact on community appreciation for water conservation and pitching in to help solve the problem. And I expect that change in thinking will having a lasting effect for years to come.
I am disappointed about solar. Seems like lots of people are not getting the energy credits they were expecting from feeding power into the grid. Maybe they are all being robbed by dodgy accounting?