A CONFRONTING scene that unfolded in front of South Australian Senator Rex Patrick last week was a stark reminder of how dire the situation is for communities on the lower Darling River.
Senator Patrick, of the Centre Alliance party, set up base on grazier Rob McBride’s Tolarno Station south of Menindee last week and, during a farm tour, the group he was with came across about 10 goats who had come to the water’s edge of a dam for a drink, only to get stuck in mud.
“We went from just checking the water levels and having a look to switching modes, get some rope, get a car … it took about two hours of our time away from their core task of farming,” he said.
“But we absolutely had to because these goats would have died otherwise.”
Senator Patrick toured extensively throughout far west NSW, including stops in Broken Hill, Tilpa and Wilcannia.
He also spent time with volunteers relocating native fish from the Darling River near Menindee.
“So all of these things helped me in terms of my advocacy and decision-making,” he said.
“Whilst I’ve been to the Darling before, I haven’t engaged in the way I did on this trip.”
Senator Patrick said it was important to keep issues facing those in the Far West at the forefront of people’s minds.
“Obviously there is a focus on the fires in South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria and it’s not my intention in any way to distract people from that really important priority,” he said.
“But what we must ensure is that we don’t take our eye off what is happening in the bush, which is an emergency of a different type.
“It’s an enduring emergency and therefore we need to be continuously talking about it.
“That’s part of the motivation for my trip.
“Going up there allows me to kick along the story more.”
Senator Patrick said he would make a speech when the Senate returned next month to get the issue officially recorded on Hansard.
And while he says policy change is needed, the complexity of issues relating to the Murray-Darling Basin and water combined with politics made it almost impossible.
He said he could understand the frustration of farmers on the Murray River who were frustrated by receiving zero allocations while water flowed past their properties to fulfil requirements for South Australia as part of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan (MDBP).
However, Senator Patrick said, the situation on the Darling River was a major contributing factor.
“The Darling used to supply South Australia with about 40 per cent of (its) water (requirements under the MDBP), but that’s no longer the case,” he said.
“I’m very worried South Australia will come under even greater pressure from people along border area of the Murray because of what happening up in the northern basin.”
Senator Patrick was also scathing about the lack of political will to help people, particularly in the lower Darling communities.
“I care about the river system and it disturbs me that there are no NSW senators going out to Menindee or the lower Darling,” he said
“That is a failing of NSW senators.
“There are very few people out there and so they might feel ability to ignore what happening but it is part of the river system and they ought to pay attention.
“I’m really frustrated (about) what’s happening on the Darling, which is an environmental catastrophe.
“And I’m not for a moment pretending that the drought hasn’t had something to do with it, but what I’ve seen is not just a result of the drought but it’s the result of over-extraction and the result of water mismanagement.”
