WHY HAVE WE GOT CHAOS?
As Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof might have said: "Why us, God?" Why have the community of Griffith been slammed with over three years of chaos and confusion?
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An "executive principal" was appointed to manage Murrumbidgee Regional High School's "one school-two sites" solution which we never voted on. When he is not out of town, the deputy principals in each school are left to make decisions that, in some cases, they have no authority to make or are too critical to make without the executive principal.
Now the NSW Teachers' Federation is trying to wangle a deal to change the setup again and give the Griffith community a "collegiate" set up. Why I don't know, because even the Federation's regional rep recounts what a disaster that idea was at Dubbo when it was tried there.
And, guess what? The "collegiate" will have a principal in each site! You know, exactly what we had before. And an executive principal, for what, I don't know.
Kevin Farrell, Beelbangera
IS THERE A DESIRE TO SOLVE BASIN ISSUES?
I am disappointed at the lack of knowledge around potential to solutions that can save livelihoods of young farmers like myself, as shown by Member for Farrer and Minister for Environment Sussan Ley.
It is unfortunate Ms Ley did not have the time to personally attend our rally in Tocumwal, as it would have given her the opportunity to learn about: (a) how the Basin Plan mess her government has created can be fixed; and (b) the frustration of her constituents at her unwillingness to take necessary actions, instead of toeing the party line.
For starters, Ms Ley tells us about the studies being undertaken by the government. What about the numerous studies that have been done over recent years, which the government has not actioned? They could start by implementing the 30-plus recommendations from the Senate Inquiry that was held a number of years ago.
They have allowed multinationals to dominate more than 20 percent of the water market, stripping a vital resource that should be used to grow food, but we cannot afford to buy it. We have up to 76 percent job losses in some regions, mostly from the Basin Plan, while our local member and her government do nothing except tell us this flawed plan has to be completed "in full and on time".
Under Sussan Ley's watch over our region we have lost 33 percent of our water. She claims that South Australia has less this year due to special accounting, but forgets to mention they are on 68 percent allocation, heading towards 100. It will be the ninth year in a row they have received 100 percent.
Over the last two years we have seen water poured down to SA from the Hume and Dartmouth Dams, with flooding and huge losses along the way. Then we have further massive losses through evaporation in the once-estuarine Lower Lakes, before pouring more out to sea. And you wonder why we are angry at this waste and mismanagement, while we see farmers walking off the land and unable to make a livelihood?
You wonder why we point the finger at SA and the Commonwealth Environment Water Holder, who sends all this water down the system to be wasted, while Victorian and NSW irrigators miss out. If the 1,000GL of conveyance water was allocated to the environmental account, instead of being taken from productive use, it would have a significant benefit to our farmers and their communities. Yet this request gets ignored.
What is extremely frustrating for the 3,000 farmers and community members who attended the Tocumwal rally is the lack of desire by Ms Ley and her government to find solutions that will fix the obvious problems created by the Basin Plan. There is no doubt they are frightened that any steps to protect northern Victoria and southern NSW would have political ramifications in SA, where there are more votes at risk. If Sussan Ley was fair dinkum she would acknowledge that this Basin Plan is a failure, talk to communities about how it can be fixed, and demand that her government take action.
Darcy Hare, Wakool
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