"Burn
the plan, burn the plan."
This was the chant
of angry irrigators in Griffith, NSW, as they set fire to the document
containing what they believed to be the plan for their destruction.
The document made
clear to them that the organisation in charge of the Murray Darling
Basin was saying the
current way of doing business in the Basin will not continue. And
that can only mean there is less water to go around. And for a people
who measure their wealth in water, the discussion was inflammatory.
"What
you should do is get in your cars, go back to Canberra, take back the message of this
meeting, draft your resignation letters while you're in the car."
"If
I was you I wouldn't wait till 3 o'clock I'd get your friggin' cars and get
the fuck out of here now!"
Their fury caught
the nation's attention and the Gillard Government hit 'pause'.
Four Corners asks, what happens next? Marian Wilkinson reports from
the Basin where all sides are digging in for a fight.
As one grape grower
in NSW says: "We're
not going to give up anything. We're going to fight for our rights and
we'll march on Parliament, we'll march wherever we gotta go."
While a South
Australian fisherman at the bottom of Murray
warns those upstream that environmental change is coming, whether they like
it or not: "It's
like a cancer. It'll kill its way upstream. It's coming to get
them."
These comments give
a flavour of the passionate lobbying being experienced by the Federal
Government and the body charged with reforming the system, the Murray
Darling Authority.
The program examines
the enormous political pressure being placed upon the Authority in
interviews with the newly appointed Chair and the Federal Water Minister.
With the Government
promising to put a decision before Parliament in 12 months time, they must
decide who gets the water and just how much. A pain-free solution is
unlikely, so will the politicians have the ticker to make the tough
decisions? Will the largest water reform plan in the nation's history
deliver a healthy river system, or will it be stymied by political
compromise?
Four
Corners, presented by Kerry O'Brien, goes to air on Monday 7th March at
8.30pm on ABC 1. It is replayed on Tuesday 8th March at 11.35 pm. You can
also see the program on ABCNews24 at 8.00pm each Saturday, on ABC iview or
at Video on Demand .
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