RIVERS DO WHAT RIVERS DO

Before the River Murray began ‘misbehaving’ itself, a lot of people said “there would never be another 1956”. Well, how wrong they were…. And just as well too, because the current flooding is a massive win for the environment.

The flood has also unleashed a flood of bureaucratic bungling, causing a lot of unnecessary stress for many Riverlanders. In particular, power being switched off unnecessarily and often without prior notification. Earlier poor decisions, like running power along the river to properties instead of into each individual property, has caused a lot of this. Decisions usually made by Adelaide based bureaucrats, that don’t understand local situations. You often see the Heads of Emergency Services, or CFS interviewed. They are wearing more brass and ribbons than General McArthur, and no doubt some of them are well experienced. However, whenever there is a major emergency, their decisions over-ride the wisdom of leaders from the regions, who are well versed in local conditions. A recent decision from Adelaide is a classic example. All of a sudden it was against the law to put a boat of any kind on the river—with fines of up to $8,000. Not only that, you were forbidden to swim or even fish. (What a classic example of a ”nanny state” we are living in). They were concerned about the wake putting levy banks at risk. Well fair enough if they banned those abominations  called wake boats, and even jet skis! They cause ongoing undermining of banks and other structural damage, even when the river is at full level. My paddlewheeler makes about as much wake as me swimming up the middle of the river. Of course, the wind makes the biggest threat, but they haven’t managed to ban that yet!

The environmental ramifications are many and varied, from black box (Euc. largiflorens) on the extremes of the flood plain getting a rare drink, to huge colonies of nesting ibis. The reason why huge colonies of white ibis headed for the cities and towns on the east coast, and becoming known as ‘bin burglars’ was because the wet lands they used to breed in have been steadily drained.  Ibis, straw-necked in particular, have always been known as the ‘farmers’ friend’, for their thorough elimination of grass-hoppers, crickets etc., as they march shoulder to shoulder across a paddock. But “No worries,” some will say “we can just spray the shit out of the paddocks and achieve the same result.”

Unfortunately, this flood will further delay a remedy to fix most of the Murray’s problems, detailed in a paper written by Ken Dury “A Better Way for the Murray/Darling Basin”. Many leaders of various industries, up and down the river, thoroughly agree with this, including Peter Millington, the respected Head of the previous Murray Darling Basin. I have written about this before. This Paper is available from   kendury38@gmail.com   State and Federal governments will still not agree on this simple but effective plan. Much of the problem is the insistence of many politicians that the lower lakes used to be fresh water. This is a fallacy. That’s why dolphins and sharks were once seen at Mannum and above. Its not rocket science, but greed and vested interests, spread between the government and the media, are preventing this. Many groups, including the Victorian Farmers Federation are right behind this plan. We live in hope.

People seem to have short memories. If you live on a river, even blind Freddy understands that eventually there is going to be a big flood. The old shacks from Morgan down past Blanchetown, demonstrated an understanding of this. When a flood came, they were left and the owners returned afterwards with a minimum cleanup. Now, due to a political decision  made by a previous ‘water skiing’ Premier, people bought them up, building ‘Mc Mansions’ that were designed to border the Beaumont Common. Many of these new arrivals are screaming the loudest. Hopefully some lessons will be learnt by this flood, but you wouldn’t want to hold your breath.

This column is published by various newspapers and news sheets around Australia.