November 2 2019

Australians who tuned into 60 Minutes last Sunday night got a good look at what was happening concerning the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

They saw areas of the Murray full, they saw forests flooded with water and then they saw farms with not enough water to keep crops alive and without enough water there is no income and no jobs and whole towns face devastation as various industries are impacted by departing farmers etc.

Everyone knows that we need forests to be at their best as they need to provide oxygen for this planet of ours as well as other resources and everyone knows that the world needs food and that includes both humans and animals around the world.

There has got to be some form of compromise where the environment can be looked after, the rivers be at a sustainable height and the farmers get their fair share of water in their canals, dams and crops.

Country areas have never trusted the Australian Labor Party, it has always been the Liberals and Nationals but now that is beginning to change.

Recent years have seen the Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party winning seats in places that the Nationals had an almost impenetrable grip on for example Orange and Murray in NSW.

Country seats decided the 1999 Victorian Election and they also decided the 2010 Federal Election when Independent MPs both sided with the ALP over the Coalition.

The LNP have had chances over the last decade to make a few small changes to balance everything out as the drought goes on but the longer the inaction goes for and the longer the drought goes on for, the smaller the chances of the Liberals and Nationals winning or retaining seats remains.

It is political suicide to continue to ignore the situation, lives are at stake and we’re not talking about livelihoods but real human lives because the drought is killing people as despair overwhelms even the nicest and the toughest of farmers and their families.

4.6mm of rain has fallen today (November 2 2019) on Deniliquin as of 6:45pm but it is not enough, more is needed but the forecast models don’t give much hope of it coming this coming Summer.

As said before, a few small changes can balance everything out and get people going but the Government needs to have the courage to make those changes and right now it doesn’t look like that they’ve got it.