To - The Prime Minister of Australia, Parliament House, CANBERRA ACT, 2600

For the sake of our future, save The Darling River and Menindee Lakes from ruin.

 

     On behalf of the 25,000 or so people living and working on lands west of Bourke, and along the Lower Darling River in New South Wales, I call on you, The Prime Minister of Australia to declare a national environmental emergency, in that The Menindee Lakes have been unnaturally and forcibly drained and dried, and the Darling River has been stopped by industry from flowing naturally.

And, because of this, you The Prime Minister of Australia need to order or arrange somehow, that the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder will buy back from irrigators and return by river flows a minimum of 500-gigalitres of water to the Barwon-Darling river system and Menindee Lakes immediately, or as soon as physically possible as a one-off emergency action. 

​     This water shall be declared “The Darling River / Menindee Lakes Restoration Flow”. And you, The Prime Minister of Australia will see that The Darling River / Menindee Lakes Restoration Flow will be protected by placing a total extraction embargo on the entire flow.

​     This flow will be to restore lakes Pamamaroo, Menindee, and Wetherill at Menindee to a reasonable holding level and thereafter to be a protected water supply for people, wildlife and the lands surrounding and below the town of Menindee, especially considering the the possibilities of charging Great Darling River Anabranch if there is enough water. And that, when the next flood occurs, Lakes Menindee and Cawndilla shall be allowed to fill and remain full without any industrial extraction until the next flood, unless a water supply emergency is experienced in South Australia, or they evaporate naturally. This huge evaporation of water being a vital component in the entire region’s ecosystems. 

​      I make this call out of a desperate need by all in the Western Sector of NSW, and elsewhere, to see changes in the present situation; a change to the legislations and behaviours that have led us here to this terrible situation. Our families, farms and Habitat are now under a direct threat of annihilation, due to the over allocation of irrigation and extraction licences in Southern Queensland and Northern New South Wales. The arbitrary use of underground water supplies is diminishing holdings in Australia’s Great Artisan Basin, with repercussions unknown. The irrigation associated with all this water use is resulting in chemical runoff that has completely upset the water cycle and forces of nature over the entire Western Division of New South Wales. This is a fact. It is undeniable and irrefutable! As Prime Minister it is important that you understand these things.

     Chemical runoff from irrigated properties in the Northern Catchment or Darling River Basin is against all that is right and it should be mitigated immediately and totally stopped through legal mechanisms that already exist. It has become clear through water testing that fertilisers and other dangerous farm chemicals are reaching the Darling River, directly or through the water table, and are likely responsible for the plagues of cyanobacteria (also known as blue-green algae) outbreaks, causing massive deaths in birdlife, mammals, farm stock and the ongoing tragedy of large fish-kills experienced along the Barwon/Darling over the past twenty years. It is also strongly suspected these chemicals are directly responsible for cancer-clusters in human populations at Menindee, and many other human ailments now being suffered throughout the basin, including motor-neurone disease (MND), and especially kidney disease and kidney failure in long term residents, especially those of lower income and indigenous populations. Un-natural levels of salts in river water being the problem.

​     I also ask you to support us all in having the Menindee Lakes re-inundated, returned to nature and restored as the globally significant “Natural Wonders” that they are. And to support us along with Broken Hill Council in an application to have the Menindee Lakes System listed under The Ramsar Convention, as the globally significant sanctuary and breeding ground for native vegetation, fish, birds and migratory water-birds that it has been for around a half million years. 

​       I make this petition because it must be made, and must be clearly seen to have been made. I make these calls to you the Prime Minister of Australia expecting most Australians would support me in also calling for a federal royal commission into the Basin Plan and water trading in Australia since 2004. 

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Print Name _____________________________________ Date _______________________

Signed ______________________________

Address __________________________________________________________________________________

 

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                              NOTE -

Some say the Prime Minister can not make this happen,

because water is constitutionally under state controls, not federal ones. 

And that neither the Prime Minister or anyone else in Federal Parliament could or would order it.

Although any Prime Minister that was a true leader could make these things happen in a minute.

A state government leader or group of state or federal leaders could also do it if they chose to. 

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Let us hope they do, very soon.          

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         Another option is to alter the Australian Constitution to include "Rights Of Nature Legislation", or for "Rights Of Nature Legislation" to be written into or onto The Water Act 2007 and Water Regulations 2008, thereby assuring that our communities vital life supporting ecosystems and biodiversity are protected by law, also protecting our future from ruination by mindless and heartless corporations and selfish people. 

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Water in Beardmore Dam near St George in Queensland was released to irrigators

in January and February 2019. 

This water enabled irrigation operators to make huge profits in the middle of a major drought

with water they supposedly owned.  

Meanwhile, untolled millions of fish died. 

 

This same water could have been sent to Menindee to rescue the tens of tons 

of surviving native fish trapped there in Lake Pamamaroo at Menindee. 

All were doomed to die as their water slowly dried out to mud and dust in October that year. 

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If our Prime Minister had heeded this letter when it first came out

and had done the right thing, all of those fish could have been saved. 

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What a shame! 

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