Crikey: Day 6

Today sees a new player on the scene of the Murray Darling Basin debate… An irrigation consultant who says half the water used for irrigation in Australia is going down the gurgler…

10. Farmers will survive, with more than a pinch of salt

Crikey intern Jane Vashti Ryan writes:

Could changing irrigation methods in Australia save water, the agricultural sector and ultimately the Murray Darling Basin? “It can go a bloody long way towards it,” irrigation consultant Jeremy Cape told Crikey today.  Only 30% of irrigators actually use an objective scheduling method to find out when to apply water. What does that mean? According to Cape, it means that while the debate rages over sustainable cuts to irrigation entitlements for farmers on the Murray Darling Basin, only about half of the irrigated water in Australia is used by Australia’s agricultural plants. The rest is down the gurgler. The alternative on offer is a standardised, water-efficient drip irrigation system, which allows the farmer to measure, within 5%, the amount of water being used. While the loss of water through wastage is contributing to the overall ill-health of the river system, it’s also causing massive hikes in salinity which isn’t just bad for the river system, and has serious repercussions for irrigators and dry-land farmers as well. Wentworth Group environmental engineer Tim Stubbs says water that drains below the root zone and into underground water tables draws the water — and a lot of salt — to the surface. “Australia’s landscape has a lot of salt in it. Because of damming and catchments we’re not getting flood planes and carbon moving, and we’re then getting massive build-ups of salt levels which makes the water salty,” he explained. “Up in Queensland around the Burdekin catchment they’ve been irrigating for 20 years now, and they’re really starting to see the effects of salinity. Sugar cane production levels are dropping.” Cane, who has worked in the irrigation sector for over 20 years, reckons the proposed water entitlement cuts could be easily met by farmers, and salinity levels could be much better managed if more efficient methods of irrigation were supported by the government. “In 1990 we had about 40 people employed in water usage efficiency by the NSW Department Agriculture. Now there are less than five. The support for extension staff who are working to support irrigators has virtually disappeared in the public sector,” he said. “There used to be a rural Water Use Efficiency in Queensland and this program no longer exists. It is possible to change methods of irrigation, meet those targets and maintain the health of the agriculture sector all at the same time.” Sean Hoobin is the fresh water policy manager from the World Wildlife Fund and agrees the cuts proposed must be met if the process is going to carry any real environmental weight. “There’s been a range of cuts recommended, and the ones being looked at by the government aren’t going to do the job. If we’re going to do this we may as well do it properly,” he said.

Tags: Environment, Politics

Crikey: Week 2

Bring it on.

That’s false bravado by the way, although I do wear a red helmet most places…

Crike: Day 5 Part II

20. Wine producers rue our dollar, and will students stay away?

Crikey intern Jane Vashti Ryan writes:

As Australian Institute of Export director Peter Mace put it: “It’s not bloody good.” The Australian dollar peaked at 99.2 US cents overnight, the highest it has been since the dollar was floated in 1983. And while Australian travellers are cheering, exporters and educators are bracing for significant fallout. Mace says the wine industry, the education sector and the manufacturing sector will all suffer if this hike is here to stay. “The Australian wine industry has little room to move on pricing with competition now coming from South America and South Africa, and manufacturing will suffer too. We’re a high-cost production country.” But the real doozie, according to Mace, will be the fallout for the education sector, one of Australia’s biggest export industries: “With the rising dollar, foreign students have to make the call on whether to come to Australia or look else where.” International student housing group International House director Elissa Jans is worried about the ramifications. “Last time the dollar peaked, we had feedback from overseas clients saying the rising value of the dollar really was a serious deterrent,” she said. “Students are looking for a bargain when they come and study. Normally they look at the UK or the US but they come here because it’s cheap. When the dollar rises this high they might as well stay at home.” Chief economist at the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation Roger Donnelly agrees certain industries will be adversely affected, but points out that rising currency value is a response to a potentially overheating economy. “It’s a safety valve for inflation and the RBA would have to be taking sterner action if we had inflation,” he said. The dollar has been boosted by strong unemployment figures and a weakening American dollar, but the threat of an international currency war looms large with fears that major economies are engaging in a “race to the bottom” in a bid to boost export growth. But you could have read it here first…

Tags: Business, Crikey, Dollar, Education

Crikey: Day 5

The Murray Darling Basin Plan will be released today. After covering the issue for yesterday’s edition of Crikey, I wrote a post for Crikey environmental blog Rooted, covering the history, background and players involved in the battle for water.

The raging Murray-Darling debate: an overview

Crikey intern Jane Vashti Ryan writes:

The debate over how to allocate water from the Murray Darling Basin is raging once again.

The official Murray Darling Basin Plan is due to be released this afternoon and if you sit quietly and listen, you’ll hear environmentalists and farmers battling it out in Canberra, and on the banks of that vital river system.

Details of the plan were leaked yesterday, pointing to a big reduction in water entitlements for farmers, a fact which has drawn the ire of regional Australia in a spectacular fashion.

But what are the facts around these proposals? Is it a case of environmentalists making unrealistic demands at the expense of Australia’s all-important agricultural industry or are farmers just struggling to grasp the realities (and the environmental fall-out) of a century of irrigation?

Before the consultation process begins, here’s a quick overview of the facts, figures and key players in the war being waged for the Murray Darling Basin.

The Background

The Murray Darling Basin sits across four states — Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. It covers 14% of Australia — over a million square kilometres — generates $9 billion per year for the Australian economy and feeds 20 million people.

So that’s the good bit.

But in the last 100 years irrigation of the Murray Darling Basin has increased by 500%, which isn’t proving to be the most sustainable of methods. A combination of agricultural planting and irrigation has led to increased salinity, soil erosion, wide-spread blue-green algae blooms and reduced numbers in native wildlife.

The Players

The government:

When the Water Act 2007 came along, so did the Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA), which plays a central role in this story. The MDBA was given:

“…the functions and powers, including enforcement powers, needed to ensure that Basin water resources are managed in an integrated and sustainable way. The MDBA will oversee water planning considering the Basin as a whole, rather than state by state, for the first time.”

The primary task given to the MDBA was to create a Murray Darling Basin Plan, a plan that would unite pragmatism, good sense, scientific nous and a listening ear, in order to work out a solution to the problems facing the Basin and the farmers living off it.

Leaked details of the plan suggest the government will be calling for a reduction in irrigation of up to 37%. And not everyone is happy.

Farmers:

The Australian Farmers Federation (AFF) came out swinging in response to the leaked figures yesterday. CEO Ben Fargher told Crikey:

“We want to make sure that the numbers are a draft and that the consultation process is genuine because there’s absolutely no way these numbers can be final.”

And AFF President David Crombie said in a statement yesterday:

“Neither the MDBA nor the federal government has articulated a clear vision for the Basin – specifically, the social, economic and environmental outcomes the Basin Plan is seeking to achieve.

“For farmers, the Basin Plan isn’t an ‘agriculture versus the environment’ debate. It requires balanced considerations – between farm production, environmental needs and local community impacts.”

Cotton farmer Michael Eagan has also weighed in on the debate. His family has farmed the land around Warren in NSW since the early 1800s and he relies heavily on irrigation to turn a profit.

“It all comes down to stranded assets. If we can’t utilise the land we’ve developed for irrigation we’ll lose out,” he said.

“The direct human cost of reducing irrigation on farms is about one man for every thousand mega liters. Then there’s the multiplied effect of what isn’t produced – work in packing sheds and cotton gins.”

Environmentalists:

The Australian Conservation Foundation’s healthy rivers campaigner Dr Arlene Harriss-Buchan reckons reducing irrigation levels is the best way to restore balance. She told Crikey:

“In less than a century, water extraction from the Basin’s rivers has increased by 500 per cent. This is unsustainable and is driving an ecological crisis.”

The AFC are looking forward to a robust debate and extensive community consultations.

Pollies:

Minister for Water Tony Burke:

“…it is not a final plan, it’s a guide to a draft of the plan…”

Shadow Minister for Water Barnaby Joyce:

“Well, you won’t have an irrigation community if some of these numbers that are being bandied around at the moment go forward.”

Greens spokesperson on the Murray Darling Basin Senator Sarah Hanson-Young

“We’ve known for years that the system has been over-allocated, now it’s time to get the balance right.”

But you could have read it here first…

Tags: Crikey, Environment, Politics

Crikey: Day 4

And so, another day. Couple a media briefs and a coffee run. But, hark! A story what needs fetching!

I even spoke to a cotton farmer from Warren today…

4. Farmers anxious over Murray Darling water cuts
Crikey intern Jane Vashti Ryan writes:
Farmers in the Murray Darling Basin are sweating over the prospect of big cuts in water entitlements by as much as 37%. The details were leaked from the guide to the Murray Darling Basin plan, which will be officially released tomorrow by the Murray Darling Basin Authority.  The release of the plan will signal the beginning of a detailed consultation process, but the community is already deeply divided over the issue. Australian Farmers’ Federation CEO Ben Fargher says a reduction in water entitlements of 27%-37% would be completely unsustainable for farming communities. “We’re concerned about these numbers. Those levels would have a devastating affect on the whole regional community. We’re really worried we’re not going to see balance,” he told Crikey. “We want to make sure that the numbers are a draft and that the consultation process is genuine because there’s absolutely no way these numbers can be final.” The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) has taken a strong stance in favour of the proposed changes. ACF’s Healthy Rivers campaigner Dr Arlene Harris-Buchan says irrigation of the basin has increased by 500% in the past century. “We need to restore the balance between irrigation and the environment by putting more water back into the rivers of the Murray-Darling Basin,” she said, calling for the plan to address the river’s long-term health and include sustainable diversion limits. “All interested parties will have the opportunity to comment, improve, consolidate and add to the information underpinning the plan. This will be the time for making the proposal as good as it can be,” she said. Cotton farmer Michael Egan has worked the land around Warren in NSW for 30 years. He’s concerned about the proposed limits and says the flow-on effects cannot be underestimated. “The direct human cost of reducing irrigation on farms is about one man for every thousand mega litres,” he told Crikey. “Then there’s the multiplied effect of what isn’t produced — work in packing sheds and cotton gins.” Egan says most farms are mortgaged, and there will be a direct correlation between financial loss and further irrigation limitations. “They’ve gone way too far towards the environment. The federal government’s already bought one or two thousand gigalitres, and we’re down to 18% limits on irrigation,” he said. “With the drought just broken, we’re only just getting runs on the board this year, and now we’ve got this to deal with.” You could have read it here first though…

Tags: Crikey, Environment, Politics

Crikey: Day 3

Call off the razor gang and fix the safety net: welfare groups.

 

Crikey Intern Jane Vashti Ryan writes:

 

Treasury’s brief to the incoming government calls for broad-scale welfare reform, among other cost-cutting measures. But welfare groups say the reforms outlined in the so-called Red Book are ineffective and risk discriminating against some of the most marginal people in the community.

National Director of Uniting Care Australia, Susan Helyar, says it’s time to break away from welfare reform orthodoxy and deliver adequate payments and effective services if government is serious about reducing individual reliance on welfare and increasing overall labour force participation.

“There has been no substantial change in the level of unemployment in the last 15 years and this is because we’re using the wrong approach to welfare changes,” she said.

The Red Book — prepared by Treasury for the incoming government — does call for an increase in payment rates to people receiving Newstart Allowance and student benefits, but says these increases should be offset by tightened eligibility criteria for the disability support pension.

Australian Council of Social Service CEO Dr Cassandra Goldie points to several other government-funded schemes that are plagued by inadequacies and perverse incentives, highlighting the distinction between tax incentives and welfare payments.

“On the expenditure side, there are a number of schemes which are poorly targeted, including the health insurance rebate, the Medicare safety net scheme, and the childcare tax rebate. These schemes disproportionately benefit higher income earners. They also generate inflation in service costs, which in turn disadvantages low and middle income earners,” she told Crikey.

ACOSS is also alarmed by the Department’s call to encourage a “user pays” approach to health and aged care delivery in order to reduce costs. “This seems to us to be the wrong approach,” Dr Goldie said.

“Australians should expect governments to provide or fund essential services such as these. But they will only be able to do so if more public revenue is available or less is wastefully spent in other areas.”

Finance has also called for a reduction in the tax rate paid by individuals on welfare payments transitioning to work, a point both ACOSS and UCA are in agreement on. The report notes: “Low income families face particularly high effective marginal tax rates (EMRT), yet they are the ones who would benefit most from an increased participation through higher incomes, lifetime earning and, most importantly, breaking the cycle of inter-generational disadvantage.”

Pointing to the Jeff Halmer Pension Review published in 1998, Susan Helyar has called on a similarly broad and in-depth inquiry into the welfare system.

“We haven’t seen that level of comprehension in this debate. The debate going on at the moment is narrow, shallow and not representative of the real problems,” she said.

“We want to reduce the disparity in payments and increase incentives for people to work, but this problem won’t be fixed by bashing people over the head with a financial stick.”

Crikey: Day 3 Part II

In addition to publishing a news article on the welfare reform debat currently raging in Australia, Crikey also had a taste of Jane for one of their many blogs today.

Back in a Bit is a travel blog with contributors from all over the world. I wrote a yarn about a gal and her dog heading to Sorrento for a day trip…

A really-long-popping-out-for-a-beer trip

Crikey intern Jane Vashti Ryan writes:

 

I like to pop out for a quiet beer every now and then. Sometimes I head down to my local in the Dandenong Ranges (quietly nestled over Melbourne). Other times, I like to head further afield.

Some would call this a really-long-popping-out-for-a-beer trip. I call it a day trip, or: My Favourite Kind of Trip. No packing and no planning required. All you need for an excellent day trip is a spare eight hours. A dog and a long, dusty road also tend to add to the overall effect.

On Sunday, I took a day trip to Sorrento. Sorrento, for those of you unlucky enough not to already know, is a peachy little town, hanging just off the bum of the Mornington Peninsula.

Think sandstone, sunshine, seaside and (to ruin a perfectly good alliteration) bloody sensational fish and chips.

Directions: If you’re in Melbourne, you head out of town in a south-easterly direction, and just keep driving until your car starts to get wet.

Sunday (for those of you who support Collingwood, and didn’t get to see it) was the first real spring day of 2010. Think the smell of grass clippings, the sound of contented urban wildlife (no, not the neighbour’s kids) and bacon and eggs on the barbie.

I hopped up and knew at once that this was the perfect day for a really-long-popping-out-for-a-beer trip. So I scooped up my newly minted best-ever 1970s rock-ballads play list, grabbed the dog and a bottle of Cottee’s Coola cordial and jumped in the car. Windows went down, Creedence Clearwater crooned and we were off.

One of the things I love best about driving on the freeway is making friends with fellow travellers along the way. A wave here, a smile there, and the old freak out the kids in the back seat with ELO dance moves trick add greatly to my day trip enjoyment.

Once I arrived in Sorrento, that sleepy little nook, I headed straight for the newsagency, which sports not only a staggering number of romance novels, but also one of the gloomiest sales assistants I’ve yet to encounter (she was gloomy last year too).

I suppose catering to mountains of on-holidays bastards is not the best way to improve one’s countenance, though how she can be so consistently grumpy when surrounded by so many texts discussing throbbing members and swollen areolas I’ll never understand.

With a “Cheerio!” I tucked my weekend papers under my arm and set off for a coffee and a rollie at the famed Continental Hotel Restaurant, where the coffee is revolting, but the views are astounding. As you sit waiting for the charred remains of a soggy coffee bean to sip on, even the most melancholy coffee snob will find their thoughts turning to the benefits of a seaside existence as they gaze at the Sorrento pier snaking out into the ocean behind a row of pencil pines.

Next, it was down to the beach with one extremely happy pooch. Harry is my dog’s name. He’s a schnauzer-poodle cross who I refer to as a Poozer, though he is more universally called a Schnoodle. He has hair. Not fur. He’s like a leggy three-year old child who cannot ride a tricycle, and his passion for being near – but not in – the water is unparalleled.

As we approached the ocean, and my toes hit the sand, Harry looked at me, and I at him. Surrounded by day-tripping families and other much more cosmopolitan pooches than he, he was unwilling to venture into the water. His masculinity is somewhat compromised by a soaking, in fact, he comes to more closely resemble a rodent than a canine in no time. So we settled into little bum-nestled grooves in the hot sand and drank Cottee’s Coola while I read the business section, and Harry did the Sudoku.

Ah.
Perfect.

I was even wearing a red polka dot scarf in my hair.

We pushed on to the pub after soaking up sun and broadsheets for a couple of hours, for a hearty meal of fish and chips and a pint of larger and as I wiped my face with the back of hand and gave Harry the last of my chips I thought to myself – “By jeepers I love a good day trip. Hail the first day of Spring. And bring me another beer!”

You could have read it here first though…

Tags: Crikey, Travel