keywords: Murray-Darling Basin
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ENVIRONMENT
- Greg Foyster
- 01 March 2019
10 Comments
A million dead fish, floating on putrid green water. Images of this ecological catastrophe on the Darling River over summer shocked the nation. Was it the result of drought? Blue-green algae poisoning? After at least four published reports, we know the answers. It's time to state plainly what has been going on, and who is to blame.
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ENVIRONMENT
- Cristy Clark
- 17 January 2019
13 Comments
A key benefit asserted to justify treating water as an economic good is that the market will encourage 'high-value' water use to be prioritised. But, as the fish of the Darling River and the people of Walgett are experiencing, the problem with commodifying water is its social and environment values are not naturally reflected in the market.
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ENVIRONMENT
- Andrew Hamilton
- 12 November 2015
8 Comments
In recent reflection on the future path of Australia the common good has made a welcome return. At the same time the Turnbull Government has transferred responsibility for water resources, including the Murray-Darling Basin, from the Department of the Environment to the Department of Trade. The two things seem to be unrelated. But the concept of the common good has been embodied robustly in the Murray-Darling Basin plan and survives in the midst of continuing conflict.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
That river is almost embarrassed at the space it occupies — professionally shocked to be spotted despite the camouflage dust it wears. It scrawls on the grey-soil plains. This consecrated vellum is read by cockatoos.
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ENVIRONMENT
- Charles Rue
- 30 November 2011
19 Comments
A Riverina farmer told ABC Radio that the environment will always survive, but once communities die, they're gone. The truth is that without protecting the ecological health of the rivers, dependent communities will not survive.
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AUSTRALIA
- Rachel Baxendale
- 04 July 2011
4 Comments
Some regional Australians may be enjoying the political day in the sun of rural independents Bob Katter, Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott. But despite the prominence of the NBN and the Murray Darling Basin, flippancy and apathy dominate metropolitan Australia's attitude to regional and rural issues.
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ENVIRONMENT
- Tony Kevin
- 22 November 2010
6 Comments
Australians can rejoice in the good year our farmers are having. But farming in southern Australia continues to be a high-risk business. Climate change is inevitably going to make it harder to sustain all kinds of agriculture in inland southern Australia.
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ENVIRONMENT
- Tony Kevin
- 19 October 2010
7 Comments
Irrigated agriculture systems, like electric grids and city roads, trigger a government's duty of care to the human communities that they sustain. Particularly when they were built with the blood, sweat and tears that went into building our Murray-Darling Basin irrigation communities.
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AUSTRALIA
- Michael Mullins
- 18 October 2010
7 Comments
Tony Windsor is proving himself to be a politician of integrity and tact, but has his work cut out for him in the case of the Murray-Darling Basin irrigators. Mary MacKillop was a champion of rural and regional Australians. It is worth considering her strategy in the context of the irrigators' struggle for survival.
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ENVIRONMENT
- Sarah Kanowski
- 09 March 2010
10 Comments
Throughout his 2007 election campaign Rudd pledged to address 'inflated grocery prices'. But Australians are spending less at the supermarket than ever before. Cheap food has come at a cost to
the livelihoods of Australian farmers and the environment.
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AUSTRALIA
- Michael Mullins
- 14 December 2009
5 Comments
If Hawke and Keating had failed to act on economic reform, the opportunity cost would have been devastating unemployment during the GFC. It is not difficult to imagine the opportunity cost of the priority Rudd is giving to his own popularity over reforms that are now urgently needed.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- Margaret Simons
- 02 October 2009
2 Comments
An alliance of traditional owners in the Murray Darling Basin is seeking to assert their role in decisions concerning water management.
In Murray River Country, Jessica K. Weir shows how their view for a healthy river could bring
economics and ecology into alignment.
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