Letter to the Editor-"The Australian" (unpublished)Sue Neales article -Farmers Left High and Dry-The Australian June 12-scratches the surface of the utter fiasco which the Murray Darling Basin Plan has become. The Plan is based on the false assumption that the natural environmental impacts of drought are caused by "over allocation" of irrigation water. What the … Continue reading Murray Darling Basin Plan-Unpublished Letter to The Australian →

Letter to The Land Editor:In response to Mal Peters article 28/5/15 in The Land, I have no doubt of Mal’s sincerity in believing he is endeavouring to further the interests of his fellow farmers.  However, for a person of his NSW Farmers background and now Chair of the Northern Basin Advisory Committee set up by … Continue reading Murray Darling Basin Plan-Neil Eagle Letter to the Editor-The Land →

Cop this for a misleading, almost non-sensical statement-The NSW Office of Water will leave water entitlement for general security users along the Lachlan River at 100 per cent for the 2015-16 year. It says entitlement, not to be confused with water allocations, will remain unchanged after wide consultation with users along the river.The Office of Water's … Continue reading Water Entitlements and Allocations →

"Land available to farming shrank by 15pc between 2000 and 2013 and water entitlements in the Murray-Darling Basin shrank about a third.Then federal Water Minister Penny Wong's irrigation rights buying campaign had been motivated by drought-fuelled concern about the downstream environment's impact from what was envisaged as continuing drought.But he said the federal government and … Continue reading Alan Oxley as quoted by Andrew Marshall in The Land →

It is music to my ears to see the recognition that the key characteristic of our climate is not so much dryness, although there is plenty of that, but variability. Dorothea Mackellar got it so right with her "droughts and flooding rains". She might well have added "and not much in the middle!" The Millennium Drought followed by … Continue reading Inland Water Management →

From the time that the Howard Government, in an attempt to garner "green" votes, decided to throw $10bn at the Murray Darling Basin, the management of the Basin has been a political football. This vote chasing initiative arose as the great Millennium Drought was biting hard and water shortages, the natural consequences of drought, were being erroneously blamed on … Continue reading Murray Darling Basin Plan-Overview April,2014 →

Amidst the celebratory publicity of all the States finally signing on to the MDB Plan this beautifully expressed knowledgeable letter introduces a cautionary reminder of the flaws in the Plan and the extraordinary incompleteness of the planning process. Fancy having a plan which expressly excluded any consideration of the role of the Snowy Mountains Scheme … Continue reading States All Sign 0n To Murray Darling Basin Plan →

Commonwealth Government Selling Water Allocations-A Step in the Right DirectionThis week’s announcement that the Commonwealth Government is to sell some water allocations back to irrigators is a small step in the right direction.From the time that the Howard Government, in an attempt to gather "green" votes, decided to throw $10bn at the Murray Darling Basin, … Continue reading A Step in the Right Direction →

The Murray Darling Basin (MDB)-A September, 2013 OverviewFrom the time that the Howard Government, in an attempt to gather"green" votes decided to throw $10bn at the Murray Darling Basin, themanagement of the Basin has been a political football. This initiativearose as the great Millennium Drought was biting hard and the naturalconsequences of drought were being … Continue reading The Murray Darling Basin (MDB)-A September,2013 Overview →