What's in a Word?

I’m just back home from five wonderful days at the Adelaide Test and a day visiting the western side of Lake Alexandrina, the GoolwaChannel ,Milang, Hindmarsh Island and the so called Murray Mouth. (I prefer to call it the Lake Alexandrina Mouth with, as explorer Sturt said, the Murray Mouth being the entrance to Lake Alexandrina with everything below that being an estuary-click to see photos). I was fortunate to have as my guide one of the very best informed people in the area, in the form of Ken Jury, a qualified marine ecologist who has made a lifetime study of the Lower Lakes, Coorong etc. and has a strong interest in the Murray Darling Basin.

Suffice to say it was a wonderful Test Match accompanied by some tremendous hospitality from my South Australian Cricket Association (and wool industry) friends.

To summarise my day at the Lower Lakes, I can only say I come home greatly enthused by the beauty of the area, enthused by the history and its preservation, and the wonderful water body; yet aghast at the waste of fresh water when it is so obvious that even better environmental outcomes could be achieved with the judicial use of healthy, oxygenated seawater with a concomitant reduction on the demand for upstream fresh water.

When you consider this in the context of the Murray Darling Basin Plan it is simply outrageous that the issue of better management (and upgrading) of the Barrages has not even been properly debated. It is not overstating the “final” position of the Plan to say that it has the supply of fresh water to the Lower Lakes as its prime objective.

There is absolutely no reason why the objectives for the environment and recreation, with irrigation needs and Adelaide water needs covered from upstream fresh water extractions, can’t be achieved with downstream seawater. Studies of tidal inflow movements, even when 80 gigalitres a day had been flowing to the Southern Ocean, have demonstrated the capacity, with Barrage manipulation, to use seawater to continue to hold the Lake level at the usual .75 metres above sea level and thus achieve the basic objective. Furthermore, such a return to a more estuarine situation would have the added environmental benefit of re-introducing the marine biota which contributes so much to the character of estuaries. An additional Lock would almost certainly be necessary to prevent sea water intrusion, in low flow conditions, up the main stem of the river.

Clearly the Barrages need to be “upgraded” to allow more cost effective management including the capacity to make it possible to periodically release substantial surges from the elevated Lake so as to keep the mouth to the ocean open. It will probably also be necessary to excavate much of Bird Island which has built up since the building of the Barrages in the 1930’s. I was surprised to discover that the Barrages are managed by the Murray Darling Basin Authority. I had always assumed that they were managed by the South Australians.

My ‘Australian Little Oxford Dictionary’ defines a “barrage” as “an artificial barrier in a river”. A “weir” is generally accepted to be a barrier which can be over-topped by water flows e.g Hume Weir. The term “dam” is usually used to describe a blockage in a water course to hold back water. It may be overtopped by big flows or have other means of allowing big flows to pass-pipes or spillways. In many areas the word “dam” is used to describe what is also called a “tank” (earthen) which is an excavated hole in the ground to capture water where there is no natural watercourse. The term “sea dyke” has also been used to describe the Barrages. A ‘sea dyke’ is usually used to describe a barrier to seawater intruding over land wanted for other purposes eg in low lying countries like Holland. On the Murray we also have a series of ‘locks’. These may also play the role of a dam, but always with the capacity to allow boats to get through.

So what is the right word to describe the Barrages? They were originally designed to store fresh water, principally for irrigation. A purpose since replaced by the piping of fresh water from upstream. They were built with a beautiful flexibility to change their height as desired by the lifting or adding of concrete panels (Goolwa Barrage). Their construction brought with it the secondary impact of keeping seawater out so in that sense they are ‘sea dykes’. So when one considers all that, the word “barrage” will do me.

To my mind, the two most important principles in water management to deal with Australia’s notorious climate variability are conservation (ie to conserve water from big flows) and flexibility. The Barrages with their modular construction strike me as meeting these principles perfectly, albeit the purpose of conserving water is somewhat different to the usual objective.

One further important factor that my Goolwa visit brought to mind was the huge impact that wind can have on water movement. When the south westerly winds get up, particularly at high tides, they can drive seawater into the Lakes even when there are substantial flows of fresh water coming from upstream. Providing the Barrages can be lowered and raised quickly this water can be captured to maintain the elevated level. In very low flow times it might be difficult to maintain the full .75metre elevation, but with the use of seawater at least the emergence of acid-sulfate soils could be avoided by keeping the lake bed inundated.

More Australian Politics

How's this for 'the voice of reason'-

Short-sighted see hate at every turn

Gerard Henderson

The Sydney Morning Herald, 16 October 2012

The whole story? ... Gillard presented herself as a political leader

who is attacked because of her gender. Photo: Justin McManus

According to the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, it is wrong to talk down the economy since Australia has one of the best performing economies in the Western world. Fair enough.

However, supporters of the Prime Minister such as Anne Summers have expressed delight that Gillard's speech in Parliament last Tuesday has been noted in New York and London and has had more than 1 million downloads from YouTube. Yet the message of the Prime Minister's address is that Australia is a society riven by sexism and misogyny.

Gillard presented herself as a political leader who is attacked because of her gender. More seriously, the lead attack-dog is Tony Abbott, the Leader of the Opposition and, as such, the alternative prime minister. According to the Prime Minister, she hears ''misogyny, sexism every day from this Leader of the Opposition''.

The message is clear. All that is standing between a civilised society, in which women play their proper role, and rampant woman-hating is the continuation of a Labor government. Yet such a message to overseas audiences is much more negative than talking down the Australian economy.

The facts are obvious. Women occupy senior roles in politics, business, the judiciary, medicine, law, even sections of the clergy. Labor's Gillard is Australia's first female prime minister. If the Coalition wins next year's election, the Liberal Party's deputy leader, Julie Bishop, will become the most senior female Coalition minister ever.

Certainly Gillard has experienced a degree of misogyny - especially from the likes of cartoonist Larry Pickering, who, these days, is a bit player on the edge of Australian politics. Some of this unpleasantness is documented in Summers's 2012 Human Rights and Social Justice Lecture.

The problem is that, at times, Summers goes right over the top. For example, she claims the word liar ''was not a term used against back-flipping male prime ministers''. But it was. In the early 1980s, Bob Hawke called Malcolm Fraser a liar. Summers went on to work for Hawke. In 2006, Kevin Rudd called Howard a liar. There are all too many examples.

I agree with Summers it is ''terrible'' to call the Prime Minister a liar. However, when I asked her if she had expressed such a view when Howard was called a liar, she declined to answer the question. Summers also takes offence that, on occasions, Gillard is referred to as ''she'' or ''her'' and maintains that ''previous prime ministers were accorded the basic respect of being referred to by their last names''.

This is manifestly not so. Moreover, last Thursday Gillard used the words ''he'' and ''he's'' in one sentence when referring to Abbott.

This is normal conversation.

It seems that Summers's evident sensitivity has had an impact on Gillard. Last Tuesday, the Prime Minister complained that Abbott was ''now looking at his watch because, apparently, a woman has spoken for too long''. In the 1992 US presidential campaign, George H.W. Bush was criticised for looking at his watch when debating Bill Clinton. This is not a gender specific act. Nor is being told to shut up. Nor is being called a ''piece of work''. Last year I was called a ''piece of work'' by the Sydney University academic Simon Chapman. It took me a full eight seconds to recover.

The problem with such over-readiness to take offence is that it can lead to setting impossible standards. Last Tuesday, Gillard stated Liberal parliamentary members who were present when Alan Jones made an offensive comment about her late father should have either left the room or walked up to Jones ''and said this was not acceptable''. Yet neither Wayne Swan nor Tanya Plibersek took either course of action last Wednesday when a comedian at a trade union function they attended made an indefensible reference to a senior female Coalition staffer.

Conservative female leaders such as Margaret Thatcher and Angela Merkel - and social democrats such as Hillary Clinton - have learnt to accept criticism and to dismiss abuse. Last week in Greece, for example, Merkel was confronted with banners depicting her as a Nazi. It is difficult to imagine a greater insult. But she did not take offence. Likewise Thatcher, when some radical feminists declared she was really a man.

Gillard was very popular when she became Prime Minister in June 2010. Her credibility was diminished by Abbott doing his job as Opposition Leader and by the damaging leaks against her from inside Labor. Then, after the election, the Prime Minister did the unnecessary deal with the Greens and broke her promise not to introduce a carbon tax. Her problems stem from politics, not gender.

Gillard has suffered no greater abuse than that experienced by such predecessors as Fraser, Keating and Howard. Commentators who look at contemporary Australian politics and see wall-to-wall misogyny, diminish the very real achievements of Australian women in recent decades.

Gerard Henderson is executive director of The Sydney Institute.

Australian Politics

Food for thought from the ever thoughtful John Anderson-

Crisis of political confidence: Anderson

COLIN BETTLES

13 Oct, 2012 04:00 AM

FORMER National Party Leader and Deputy Prime Minister, John Anderson, has lamented the diminished standards and lack of civility associated with public political discourse.
Mr Anderson has been out of federal politics since his retirement in 2007, but the former Howard government transport and regional development minister proved - in his Sir Earl Page Memorial Address in Sydney last week to about 100 party faithful - that he’s still capable of stirring political senses.

Mr Anderson said everyone was responsible for improving the standard of public debate and civilising informed national discourse, not just our politicians.

“The critical state of economic health among western democracies is only one manifestation of the challenge we face,” he said.

“We’re at an important inflection point on a whole range of issues from climate change policy, to immigration policy, to foreign affairs policy and families."

He also cited global food security, water security, land availability and energy policy as important issues.

“The decisions we make in the next five years will define the opportunities and prospects of our children in this very difficult environment.

“The range of potential outcomes is enormous and yet still it appears, frankly to me, that we choose to stand and gesticulate with each other on the railway tracks as the express train bears down on us.

“We need to recognise that the nature of a crisis is that it does not wait - it moves faster and further than anticipated (and) shows no mercy.

“And I believe we may be approaching such a point.

“We accuse our politicians of an absence of policy conviction and insight and there’s a popular perception that scandal and slur have become the currency of debate and the focus of our media.

“But we need to recognise clearly that the fault cannot lie solely with our representatives for indeed that matter, to be fair, with our media.

“In truth we are all responsible. All of us have our share of the blame to carry.”

Mr Anderson said “spin and spittle” have been rewarded – but we’ve neglected to act with sober responsibility in light of the challenges that we all face.

The result, he said, has been worse policy outcomes for the Australian people.

“Driven by the incentives that we ourselves have created, we make it all but impossible for our leaders to find the balance between the political theatre that we respond to and the policy substance that we need,” he said.

“And this is not sustainable on any dimension.”

Mr Anderson said the Australian public’s dissatisfaction with politics was unprecedented.

A recent poll provided “staggering” research results, with 33 per cent ranking the nation’s political leaders one or two out of 10 in their capacity to deal with the economic issues the nation must confront over the next five years.

The research results also showed that 26pc of voters are now looking to cast their vote outside of the major parties.

“It seems then that we’ve reached a tipping point,” he said.

“The Australian public is casting about for a clear voice and a clear vision – they sense that we are approaching a point of no return on a number of issues and major crossroads on many more.

“I believe there is a crisis of confidence in the cultural roots and values upon which the success of the West of our society was built.

“We need to face the fact that without values both our economic system and our political system are self-defeating.”

Mr Anderson said a better pathway was to re-engage values in public life, by first re-engaging with the nation’s cultural roots.

He highlighted the importance of history in education and lamented its decline in importance. He said there was also a need to avoid discussions driven by ideology or expediency and characterised by overly emotive, overly personal, overly simplistic arguments.

“If we can break that stalemate, by returning to a dialogue of reason, there are real opportunities to advance the national interest on a number of issues, both controversial and routine.”

“Those who publicly take a minority or unpopular position, or who open a controversial issue for discussion, can be blown away by apparently progressive intelligentsia who would prefer to shut down the discussion to avoid offense, than engage with whatever has been put on the table.

“Unfortunately, this issue has worsened, not improved with the advent of social media.
“The recent examples of 'Twitter trolling' - the mass attacks on our public figures with extreme and hateful language - demonstrate this.
“Protected by the anonymity of a computer screen, people are willing to say and do things that they would never consider were they to find themselves seated across the table from the person they are seeking to bring down.
“Nothing could be more destructive to free speech and quality debate than the fear of holding unpopular positions that is created by such practices.
“It needs to be rejected as a practice that has any place in civil dialogue, lest important truths be downed out or worse still, never spoken.”
Federal Nationals Leader Warren Truss praised Mr Anderson’s speech, saying the former leader had always brought a depth of analysis and perspective to the National’s party room which they now missed.
Mr Truss said the hung parliament had been an intense period for all participants.
He said there’d been little or no spare time for any depth of philosophical debate and discourse on important, long-term policy issues, given that all parties had been in almost permanent campaign mode since the 2010 election.
He said parliament needed to find a better way to debate broader issues more thoroughly, like health, education and land use, rather than being purely focussed on or driven by immediate policies, or the issues of the day.

Flannery of the Overflow

This is not new, but it is to me. As a "Banjo" Paterson fan it has great appeal, and I like the sentiments. I read recently of how science progresses. Scientists come up with a hypothesis, often a guess. The hypothesis is then tested against observations which either prove or disprove it. Surely, at least the extreme anthropogenic green-house hypothesis, with some of Flannery's extraordinary predictions, have failed the observation test.
Flannery of the Overflow

IPA REVIEW ARTICLE

| William York

I had written him a letter which I had, for want of better
Knowledge, sent to where I met him on the Murray, years ago,
He was boating when I knew him, so I sent the letter to him,
Just on spec, addressed as follows, ‘Flannery, of The Overflow'.

And an SMS came directed from a source quite unexpected,
(And I think it was dictated from a river bank or bar)
‘Twas the Prime Minister who wrote it, and verbatim I will quote it:
Flannery's gone all atmospheric, and I don't know where we are.'

With Australia Day flattery, visions come to me of Flannery
Gone a-driving ‘down to Canberra' where the politicians go;
With the journalists and stringers, Flannery pointing with his fingers,
draws a future of disasters none of us will live to know.

And the Greens come out to meet him, and their kindly voices greet him
While the politicians ponder an election to be won,
And he sees the vision horrid of our country turning florid,
With a baking sun, a rising sea and little being done.

Gazing up at Kirribilli, I wonder will the ‘Silly
Season' finish with a whimper or a bang
Will we all start getting warm, or is this the perfect storm,
Orchestrated by Al Gore and echoed by the noisy local gang.

It seems to me Prime Minister that there is something here quite sinister
In the push to get our economics in a great big melting pot.
With the present calls for action, you will need to find some traction
For ideas that cool the hot heads so we don't destroy our lot.

BlogLog-Bourke Visit 24th to 26th September,2012

Drove out to Bourke on Sunday/Monday. When first with Clyde I used to do it in a long half day-driving too fast, before we got flash and bought an aircraft. This time went to Mudgee on Sunday evening and got to Bourke about 2:30PM on Monday via Dunedoo, Mendooran, Gilgandra, Warren and Nyngan. My visit had three purposes:-

• to a assist with a documentary film that some of my friends from the Lower Lakes are making which may feature Toorale. 
• to attend Geoff Wise's farewell from the Shire GM position,and
• to give evidence to the NSW Legislative Council Committee which is inquiring into the gazetting and management of National Parks-again Toorale. (All recorded in Hansard)

Had a thoroughly enjoyable time. Called to see my agent friend Trevor Wilson in Warren and got an update on former Clyde stations and staff. Refueling at Nyngan, fortuitously and coincidentally ran into Ken Jury, the driving force behind the film, and the film crew. He accompanied Gail and me for the drive from Nyngan to Bourke. We hardly drew breath on what can be a long somewhat depressing drive. I was very encouraged by the line being taken with the film. On arrival in Bourke I gave the film crew a briefing on Toorale with the aid of a map and some digital photos I had put together.

Much enjoyed the farewell to Geoff and Anne Wise at Kidman Camp on Monday night. I have much admired the way Geoff and Anne have thrown themselves into the Bourke community in the five years they have been there. Geoff, a veterinarian by training, was previously a senior NSW public servant including Western Lands Commissioner. He was also a very valuable member of my Darling Matilda Way Sustainable Region Committee. He is very knowledgeable on water issues, and whilst we didn't always agree when he had to administer Government policy, we have always been friends and then also strong allies from the time he went to Bourke.

On Tuesday morning my friend John Oldfield (79) of Belalie Station flew us over Toorale with a cameraman filming out a side window in the back of the aircraft and me, wired for sound, doing a commentary on the place, particularly the McCaughey water spreading scheme. Country looks great, but I just hate the neglect and waste.

On Tuesday afternoon I did an interview for the film in the lovely garden at the Riverside Motel before giving my evidence to the Parliamentary Committee at the Bourke Bowling Club. This finished in time for me to join a Board Meeting  (by telephone) of the Tandou Board to sign off on the Annual accounts.

Drove back to Sydney via Dubbo and Merriwa on Wednesday. Called on Gail's nephew, David Dugan who runs the Joe Jones Agency at Trangie. Arrived just on "smoko" and had an enjoyable discussion on water issues with David's impressive team over a cup of coffee.
At Dubbo we had a very enjoyable lunch with old Bourke friends John and Norine Lack. Gail and Norine were school girls at Bourke together in the 1950's-Norine's father Ern Brook was the Head Buyer for Tancreds when their Bourke Abattoirs was  the most important sheep and cattle meatworks in Western NSW. 

Some relevant photos. And more.

Water Storages Full to the Brim-Weekly Times Article, 17th September,2012

AUSTRALIA'S key water storages are full to overflowing for the first time in 16 years.

River officials on the weekend declared the Murray Darling Basin storages 100 per cent full.

Storage levels increased by 108 gigalitres in the past week and is now 8555 GL, 100 per cent of capacity.

The last time it reached this level was October 1996.

Active storage has reached 100 per cent despite Lake Victoria, Hume and Dartmouth dams being slightly below full supply.

This is all because of the high surcharge level in Menindee Lakes, which are more than 110 per cent full, with the addition of extra storages.

Storage levels at Dartmouth Dam increased by 35 GL to 3687 GL (96 per cent capacity).

At Hume Reservoir, inflows averaged about 16,000 ML/day and have remained fairly steady in recent days.

Release from Hume has been reduced in order to steer the storage level towards full supply.

The rain outlook is relatively dry for catchments upstream of Hume, however if further rain is forecast over the coming weeks, the release could again be increased to create "extra airspace'' ahead of any rise in inflows that may result.

Storage in Hume Reservoir is 2934 GL (98 per cent capacity), an increase of 23 GL.

I commented:-
We continue to read in the mainstream media of the "ailing Murray Darling Basin" and measures to "save our rivers". Will the various commentators now acknowledge that in terms of water availability the MDB has never been in better shape. As the Mayor of Hay said recently "the MDB Plan is a solution looking for a problem!"

Cubbie

A switched on agricultural commentator has written the following commentary on the proposed Cubbie Station sale. I agree with it.

Editorial
The decision by the Treasurer and the Federal Government to allow a consortium from China, Japan
and Australia to jointly bid for the Cubbie Group, has prompted widespread discussion and debate.

The Foreign Investment Review Board, which advises the Government on these matters, has
obviously concluded that the national interest has not been undermined by this particular consortium’s intentions.

There will be many who agree with this conclusion, and probably an equal number that disagree.
Unfortunately, some of the debate has been tinged with xenophobia, and may have ignored
relevant facts in relation to Cubbie’s current debt dilemma, which preceded these events.

Cubbie was first developed for irrigation from grazing country around 1983. Under various forms of
ownership, it has developed 93,329 hectares comprising 22,256 ha or furrow irrigation and water
storage capacity of 538,800 megalitres, with potential to irrigate a further 11,000 ha.

Development expanded rapidly in the 1990s, when the cultivated area exceeded 40 kilometres
wide and the property and its water storages became visible from satellite imagery mapping the
area from Brisbane to Adelaide.

So successful was this development, that from its humble grazing beginnings, Cubbie was
subsequently able to harvest water, wheat, cotton, corn, chickpeas, barley, sunflower and sorghum
in huge volumes.

Dogged by a series of drought years (7-8), by 2008 Cubbie was in dire straits. In November 2008,
Suncorp and the NAB, its major lenders, engaged McGrathNicol to investigate and report on the
financial position of Cubbie, and monitor its attempts to repay its debts.

Prompted by drought-induced low production and rising debts, Cubbie was first offered publicly for
sale in August 2009, when expressions of interest were sought, and/or a capital injection. Nothing
satisfactory was forthcoming.

In October 2009, Cubbie was placed in voluntary administration (under McGrathNicol) from which
it did not emerge until July 2010 when McGrathNicol, were appointed Deed Administrators.

This meant that liquidation could be avoided and restructuring strategies and opportunities could
be pursued.

In October 2009, inter-company loans within the 11 companies in the Cubbie Group had reached
$320 million, owed mainly to Suncorp and the NAB. The administrators placed credit limits on staff
for expenditure, with a maximum limit of $20,000.

In July 2010, following significant seasonal improvements and water availability, and the banks’
decision to bankroll the 2010-11 crop, this credit limit was expanded to $100,000, which meant five
designated employees could collectively outlay up to $500,000.

At that time, Cubbie was said to have enough water to plant 21,158 ha of cotton with potential
to produce 222,100 bales worth in excess of $126 million. Although no official data is publicly
available, the total value is rumoured to have exceeded this estimate by around 10 per cent.

This background shows that Cubbie has been on financial notice, and in trouble with its lenders, for
at least four years, during which time no acceptable buyer of first or last resort was found.

Had it not been for the goodwill provided by its lenders, Cubbie would have been subject to
foreclosure by its lenders, and would be either sitting in their bad debts portfolios, or off-loaded at
a significant loss, most likely in much smaller, more financially digestible portions.

Consequently, an offer to purchase the entire entity should be welcomed, rather than condemned,
particularly given the uncertainty created by the current controversy over the Murray-Darling Basin
Plan, and its unknown impact on Cubbie’s future.

It would certainly have been preferable for the potential buyer to be of Australian origin, but with
none willing to take up equity on commercial terms, the only alternatives are a foreign buyer; a fire
sale by the two major lenders; or ongoing financial support from Suncorp and the NAB.

Given current trends in cotton prices, rising energy and other input costs, and Cubbie’s current debt
levels, the first two options are most likely the only ones still seriously in play.

What is intriguing though is this: If three consortium members, none of whom are cotton growers
or investors in cotton production, can see future potential in Cubbie (at a price), why cannot an
experienced, professional Australian-dominated cotton conglomerate see the same potential?

In all fairness, Australian companies and consortiums have had an equal opportunity to purchase
Cubbie, and have failed to get past the front gate. And it is, after all, the prerogative of the owner
to take the best price. Very few farmers have a history of accepting lower bids.

-----------------------------------------------

"The Land" Extract 16th August,2012

‘Toorale’ sale reflects Basin flop

JULIAN LUKE

17 Aug, 2012 12:21 PM

WHEN David Boyd flies over Toorale Station now it nearly brings him to tears.The former chairman and chief executive officer of Clyde Agriculture – which sold “Toorale” to the Commonwealth and NSW governments for $23.75 million in September 2008 – cannot believe the 91,383-hectare property is lying unused.
Mr Boyd believed the purchase of Toorale Station in 2008 – which he said had a huge negative economic impact on the community of Bourke, for minimal environmental gain – was representative of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
Last week the Murray-Darling Basin Authority released its final amendments to the Basin Plan, which the Murray-Darling Ministerial Council will now analyse before reporting back to federal Water Minister Tony Burke by August 27.
“The ‘Toorale’ debacle, as I like to call it, is a microcosm of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan ... by that I mean big economic disadvantage, socio-economic damage and bugger all environmental benefit,” he said.
Mr Boyd retired as an executive of Clyde Agriculture in December 2007 but remained on the board as a non-executive director for a number of years.
He wants to see Toorale Station – which is now broken into a 54,385ha State Conservation Area and the 30,866ha Toorale National Park – returned to full agricultural production.
The huge western floodplain on the property is currently lying full of feed thanks to man-made storages along the Warrego River, which have driven successive years of flooding onto the delta.
“If you stock responsibly, if you look after the assets generally, including control of feral animals, control of weeds, then I don’t see any conflict between protection of environmental values and commercial results,” Mr Boyd said.
“If we care about people, if we care about communities, then we want economic activity.
“We’ve got a moral responsibility to sustainably maximise production.”
Mr Boyd said he was infuriated by the fact “Toorale” was not being used for agricultural production.
The Commonwealth commissioned engineering consultants Aurecon to investigate how much it would cost to decommission the six dams along the Warrego River, which found it would cost $79 million to fully decommission Toorale Station.
But Mr Boyd said taking out the dams along the Warrego River – built by Sir Samuel McCaughey in the late 19th century to drive water onto the western floodplain for grazing – would be pointless.
He said the dams merely accentuated what naturally occurred during large floods anyway and believed that by simply opening the regulation pipes installed at the bed of the river in each of the dams down the Warrego, natural conditions would be replicated.
“The Commonwealth government ... (was) obviously feeling the pressure because people were saying ‘where is all this water you were supposed to get’, which they were never going to get anyway,” he said.
“The consultant said it would cost ($79m) to remove the banks and the pipes ... I say for what purpose? What are you going to achieve? If you’ve got the gates open I think you’ve replicated natural conditions anyway.”
Mr Boyd said the 2000ha irrigation area only drew water from the natural water storage, Ross’s Billabong, which Clyde Agriculture filled each year using high-flow water licences on the Darling River, or if it filled naturally when the Darling and Warrego rivers overflowed.
While the Commonwealth government has said it believed the decommissioning of Toorale Station would return about 20,000 megalitres of water to the environment in an average year, Mr Boyd said Ross’s Billabong only held about 10,000ML.
“The other dams (along the Warrego River) are shallow, dry up very quickly and collectively don’t actually hold a lot of water,” he said.
Susie Dunn – who along with her husband Dudley purchased Toorale Station in the early 1970s and transformed it into the property it is today – said the debate about the Warrego River was peripheral and that the water had been delivered back to the Murray-Darling Basin.
When the Dunns – who went on to found Clyde Agriculture with the UK-based Swire Group – purchased“Toorale”, Mrs Dunn said it was “a shell up for surrender”.
Mrs Dunn and her husband helped pioneer the cotton industry at Bourke, building the irrigation area on Toorale Station and also flying to the United States of America to purchase a cotton gin.
The Bourke Shire Council has lamented the loss of the productive capacity of Toorale, which contributed about four per cent of the rates each year and about 10pc of the local GDP.
“We bought it with the hope of putting back a viable property and in fact that’s what we did,” Mrs Dunn said.
She said given that all irrigation water previously used to grow cotton on “Toorale” (from the Darling River) was now returned to the environment, and the Warrego storages had not supplied water for cotton, it would be a “tragedy” to demolish them.
“The Warrego really had nothing to do with it. There are high-flow pumps on the Darling River and that was the water used for cotton.”

Read David Boyd's comment piece on what's wrong with the Basin Plan here.

Murray Darling Basin Plan-Overview 15.08.12

The Mayor of Hay recently described the Murray Darling Basin Plan as "a solution looking for a problem", that is a great summary,in brief.

In somewhat more detail, following is my personal submission to the Murray Darling Basin Authority in April,2012.

Submission to the Murray Darling Basin Authority.


Preamble
The debate over the last year or so on the Draft Plan and its predecessor has revealed glaring flaws in both the Water Act (2007) and the Draft Plan.

So much so that if we are serious in securing better natural resource management in Australia we need to go back to the drawing board and repeal the Act.

I remain greatly concerned that as a consequence of misguided action by Government we will cause great socio-economic damage, unnecessarily limit future production, and do little or nothing for the environment.

I make these comments from the perspective of somebody who has followed the Basin debate closely, and has had long experience in water management particularly in my past role as Chairman and Chief Executive of Clyde Agriculture which was not only an irrigator but had extensive floodplain grazing and dryland farming operations.

Base Position
The Millennium Drought had a major impact on the Basin. (The renowned recuperative power of the Australian landscape has been demonstrated in its spectacular recovery since the drought broke.)

Water extractions were well controlled by the adaptive management approach embodied in the allocation process, guided by the Water Sharing Plans.

Natural impacts from extreme drought are being incorrectly labelled as chronic ill-health.

At the top of the Murray and Murrumbidgee the Snowy Scheme is not being managed in a manner which optimises its original water conservation objectives.

At the bottom, the Murray River has been deprived of its estuary by The Barrages and this has created serious environmental problems, and the call for ever more fresh water. The diversion of fresh water flows in the South-East of S.A. to the sea, flows which once drained to the Southern Lagoon of The Coorong, has also caused environmental problems.

Asking the CSIRO to come up with single figure Sustainable Diversion Limits (SDL's) for the rivers within the Basin reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of our inland rivers and their massive variability. To argue that these numbers are "averages" doesn't help, given the enormous spreads around the averages. In using absolute numbers as the MDBA has done, to prescribe acceptable extractions/diversions limits without relating these to actual flows (availability), is really nonsense.

One has to wonder whether we are proposing to "throw the baby out with the bathwater' in moving to a centralised Commonwealth water management regime.

Our current water bureaucrats could do worse than study how the existing control system operates. It works rather well.

Drought Induced Perceptions
In 1990 I toured China, Vietnam and Laos with a delegation from the NSW Department of Water Resources. The delegation included the State Minister, the Departmental Head and the Chairman of the MDBC. One of our objectives was to explain to our hosts how different jurisdictions could successfully manage a river-in their case the Mekong. The successful model was the MDBC which at the time was held in the highest esteem. How perceptions have changed!

More Conservation
If we had more dams, in the big wet events, we could store very substantial additional amounts of water, yet they would represent only a tiny percentage of the big flows.

Toorale Station Lesson
The Government purchase of Bourke’s most productive property, Toorale Station in 2008 is a microcosm of the Basin Plan. If Toorale had continued to operate it would have reduced river flows in the Darling River past Louth in 2010/11 by 0.01%!

In other words, great social cost, for no environmental benefit.

2012 Outlook Conference
This MDB session at the recent Agricultural Outlook Conference disturbed me for a number of reasons-

The opening graph showed no impact from the allocation system which dramatically reduced extractions during the recent drought.

There was a broadbrush comment that MDB extractions were usually "around 10 to 11,000 GLS."

There were many comments such as "recovering water" and "closing the gap" without it would seem an understanding that Government buying entitlements is simply changing ownership from the private sector to the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder (CEWH).

Recognising the Difference Between ‘Entitlements’ and ‘Allocations’
According to the ABS, during the most recent years of the drought the allocation system guided by the very effective water sharing plans for each of the Basin's rivers reduced extractions to-

(GL'S)

2005-06   7369

2006-07   4458

2007-08   3141

2008-09   3492

2009-10   3564

not around "10 to 11,000 GLS" as quoted at the Outlook Conference.

Water entitlements without allocations amount to 'phantom water'. An 'entitlement' only grants the holder a share of 'allocations' when there are any. The entitlements held by the CEWH will apparently still attract allocations (when water is available) and nobody really knows what this new player (the Government) is likely to do with them.

So, we have a situation whereby before allocations are granted the water sharing plans call for a priority to 'critical human needs' and assessed ‘environmental needs’. Once these are met then allocations for 'consumptive' use are made. So, in what is proposed the CEWH gets a second bite, presumably mainly for environmental needs and becomes a player in the water market. This gives rise to some interesting conflicts of interest.

It seems to me that if the assessed environmental needs are not covered adequately under the water sharing plans, which I doubt, then it is those plans that should be changed. Not have the "dog's breakfast" that is now proposed.

Summary
I contend that the fact remains that we have confused the natural impact of a very severe drought with "ill-health" and invalidly blamed it on extractions. A situation which has been wonderfully and dramatically corrected in the time honoured manner by the flood flows of the last three years.

We should repeal the Water Act and begin the process anew along lines proposed by a former NSW Director General of Water Resources who has had extensive global experience in river management.

I have serious doubts of the wisdom in centralising control in Canberra. The former MDBC/Ministerial Council approach with all the tensions and debates between the States that water management inevitably involves, was once held up around the world as an example of how to do water management properly

I can do little better than conclude with the words of Harvard Professor John Briscoe-

"My conclusion is stark. I believe that the Water Act of 2007 was founded on a political deception and that the original sin is responsible for most of the detour on which Australian water management now finds itself. I am well aware that unpredictability is an enemy and that there are large environmental, social and economic costs of uncertainty. But I also believe that Australian cannot find its way in water management if this Act is the guide. I would urge the Government to start again, to re-define principles, to engage all who have a stake in this vital issue, and to produce, as rapidly as possible, a new Act which can serve Australia for generations to come. And which can put Australia back in a world leadership position in modern water management."

J.D.O.Boyd
10.04.12

Murray Darling Basin Plan 06.08.12

How good is this! Written by a knowledgeable, eloquent friend.

EDITORIAL 07.08. 12

The Murray-Darling Basin Authority’s Proposed Basin Plan, released this week, represents a potential communication catastrophe.  In terms of presentation, it is disastrous, bordering on incomprehensible.

It lacks the fundamentals of acceptable information transmission: it has no start, no middle and no ending.  Importantly, it lacks an essential executive summary. The way it is written makes it almost incapable of being condensed, easily absorbed or understood.

It blindly adheres to principles that cannot, or will be extremely difficult, to manage and implement over the various time and evaluation periods specified. In fairness, however, it is probably the fault of the Water Act and political naivety that have created the fundamental flaws on which the Proposed Plan is based.

As outlined in the Plan, around 94% of available rainfall evaporates or transpires through plants. Less than 6% of rainfall runs off into rivers and streams of the Basin.

Climatic conditions vary considerably from region to region and year to year. Rainfall is summer-dominant in the north and winter-dominant in the south. Variation in annual inflow to its rivers over the past 114 years have ranged from a high of around 117,907 GL in 1956 to a low of around 6,740 GL in 2006.

Despite this background, the Plan aims to “protect and restore” the significant social, economic and environmental assets and infrastructure developed over the past century or so, basically by manipulating the wildly variable, often destabilising elements of nature, climate and human endeavour.

A Basin producing an estimated $15 billion annually (40% of Australia’s agricultural production), comprising about 60,000 rural businesses (18,000 of them irrigating crops) and providing water for more than 3.3 million people, deserves a better fate than this 254-page quagmire of legal and bureaucratic jargon, repetitiveness and verbosity.

The Bush Brothers

The linked article, beautifully written by my good friend Peter Austin, has stimulated me to record my personal association with the Brotherhood of the Good Shepherd. Whilst I am familiar with the Marra and have driven past the Church many times, I was not aware of its connection with the Brotherhood nor was I aware of my old Dalgety client and friend Jim Marr's association with the Church.

Since my days at Nyngan in the mid-1960's-it was our first marital home-I have loved the Marra country which I have always regarded as some of the best sheep grazing country in Australia. I tried unsuccessfully, to get a scale holding there for Clyde. We had a flirtation with "Womboin" and purchased "Merrimba" and "Oxley" north of Warren, but as good as they are, they are not "Marra Creek country".

When in 1960 as a 19 year old Dalgety sent me to Bourke Office, I continued with my attention to spiritual matters by worshipping at The Holy Innocents Anglican Church. I had been well grounded in such things at Canberra Grammar School which like the Bathurst Diocese was of the "High Church" variety, so well described in Peter's article. Bourke was in the hands of the Brotherhood of the Good Shepherd and the Priest-in-charge was a truly delightful man in the person of Brother Timothy-The Reverend Dr.Barry Marshall. After Second World War service in the RAAF, Bro Timothy studied for the Ministry at Melbourne University (Trinity College), St. John's College Morpeth and Oxford University. He went to Bourke in 1956 where he was greatly loved and returned to Trinity College , Melbourne as Chaplain in 1961.

 It was at his Church farewell in Bouke in early 1961, that I met a vibrant young school leaver, one Gail Dugan, the daughter of one of the local Church's true stalwarts-Nellie Dugan. Mrs Dugan approved of me, because I went to church and this enhanced my clumsy advances towards her young daughter. To make a long story short, nearly six years later (1966) Gail became my wife; now of 46 years standing.Gail and her mother had great affection for Bro Timothy and Gail recalls him helping her prepare for debates at Bourke Intermediate High School before she went away to Marsden Girl's School at Bathurst for her final two years of secondary schooling. Whilst at Bourke he had a very serious car accident and for some time his life was threatened. However, he appeared to make a good recovery.

At Melbourne University Bro Timothy came in contact with my sister Helen, then a post-graduate chemistry student at Melbourne University. He officiated at her wedding in Trinity Chapel in 1962. I gave her away and Gail, who by then had commenced her nursing studies at Royal North Shore Hospital, came down to Melbourne from Sydney to attend the wedding with me.

When Gail and I were married in 1966 Bro Timothy officiated at our Sydney wedding at the Mowbray Memorial Chapel, Chatswood and was the Master of Ceremonies at the reception.

In 1969 Bro Timothy was appointed Principal of Pusey House, Oxford. (UK). We visited him there in early 1970. Later that year he fell from a chair whilst changing a light bulb, suffered severe brain damage and died. A terrible loss of a truly delightful man in the prime of his life.

Pusey (1800/1882)  was one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement which established what has become the High Church (Anglo-Catholic if you like) faction of the Anglican Church. Thus it was appropriate that a brilliant person of Bro Timothy's ecclesiastical persuasion, should become Principal of the House at Oxford which bears his name.

On a lighter note, Jim Marr who features in the linked article, in 1965 told me a  humorous story about former Australian Governor General and famous soldier, Field Marshall Sir William Slim. Slim made an official visit to Canberra Grammar School when I was in my last year there and spoke to the senior boys. I have never been in the company of a man with such tremendous presence. You could literally have heard a pin drop whilst he was speaking to us. As he left the School Library where his talk took place, he tapped the clerical collar of the Headmaster Canon (later Bishop) Garnsey and apologised for preaching us a sermon and suggested he should have been wearing one of those collars. (David Garnsey was a friend of Bro Timothy's and a fellow High Churchman).

But back to Jim Marr's, Slim story. According to Jim's information Slim had a most elaborate tattoo on his body, in the form of a full fox hunt! The horsemen coming up his chest, the hounds going over his shoulder and down his back and the fox disappearing into the obvious orifice! An English cousin of mine who was also a very senior British Army officer and knew Slim well, assured me that it isn't true.

My other favourite Slim story, which I think Jim Marr also told me and I am assured is true, is that one hot summer's day Slim's entourage was travelling out of Canberra somewhere and Slim in full military uniform suggested they stop at the pub they were passing and have a drink. As they entered the bar one of the locals, who had been there for some time, looked up at the the newcomers, saw this apparition in its shiny bright uniform coming through the door and exclaimed loudly "Jesus Christ"! With which Slim replied "No, Slim, Governor General".

Birth

Now to really important matters! Daughter Susie and her husband Hagen have a new daughter-Madeleine Susan to take home to their new house in Pymble-just around the corner from us. A sister for "The Ant's Pants", otherwise known as Max.

Murray Darling Basin Plan-Neil Eagle

My friend Neil Eagle, who knows the Murray like the back of his hand, tells it like it is:-

MDBA Ignores Public Submissions - Still No Basin Plan Balance!     

Predictably Rhonda Dickson CEO of MDBA has announced they have seen nothing in the multitude of submissions to sway them from their intention of recommending in the Final Plan for the recovery of a further 2750 GLs of water for the environment.

This statement confirms my continued contention that the whole consultation process was a total sham! 

To totally ignore the recommendations in both the House of Representatives (Windsor) Inquiry and the Senate (Joyce) Inquiry, the submissions from the upper states of NSW and Victoria and then dismiss out of hand 12,000 submissions elicited from the Basin communities at the series of Community ‘consultation’ meetings is an insult to those who prepared submissions.

The bureaucrats and politicians involved stand condemned as actively working against the future interests of our Country. 

Their sacrifice of the irrigation industry that underpins Australian food security, in a Basin Plan that has little environmental justification, other than a ‘fresh-water’ solution for the naturally estuarine Lower Lakes of Alexandrina & Albert is surely obvious.

Proof of this FACT is the Recommendation imbedded in the Final Plan of ‘Future Salinity Targets’ – a reduction from the historical agreed target at Morgan SA of 800 ECs to 500 ECs, to even 500 ECs at Murray Bridge; coupled with a massive ‘future water grab’ in that the Lower Lakes be maintained at 1000 ECs or lower!

The ramifications of this proposal if implemented would be that in future drought or low flow periods, there would be little or no water for food and fibre production, and critical human needs (urban water supplies) or stock and domestic supply could be jeopardised.

On this basis NSW and Victoria should totally reject this outrageous Plan.

Surely it is time that Australians realise they are being ‘conned’ by the false claims of ‘dead and dying rivers’ or ‘Lower Lakes being freshwater’ and acknowledge the Lower Lakes natural estuarine history with a 1 million ML annual evaporation rate.

This evaporation factor alone squanders vital water resources; water that is captured in the Upper States dams and rivers to support the Lower Lakes supply, whilst the man-made Barrages continue to be used in times of drought and low-flows, to halt the Southern Ocean that would naturally flow freely into these Estuarine Lower Lakes.

It is heartening to see the NSW Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner MP and the Victorian Minister for Agriculture and Food Security Peter Walsh MP, both giving a commitment that these States will walk away from the Draft MDB Plan unless it is balanced and fully address State raised issues.

 In summary 6 Reasons for Rejection of the Plan:

1.  The existing State Water Sharing Plans flexibility and benefits, ignored in the Plan

2.  The ‘Over-Allocation’ Myth

3.  The Sustainable Diversion Limits illusion

4.  The 2007 Water Act bias

5.  MDBA Commissioners appointments should be by each State

6.  Lower Lakes and Barrages future management, not included in the Plan!

Our Basin communities now expect that these State Governments will now act on their recent statements and take action and totally reject this flawed bias Basin Plan.

Basin Communities and all Australians must not be complacent in stating, to Politicians, Bureaucrats and Media, that we totally reject this unbalanced destructive Basin Plan.

Neil J Eagle

4 June 2012. 

Environmentalism-The New Religion

I have recently discovered a marine biologist, Walter Starck, who is clearly a deep thinker with a broad view of the world. This paper from Quadrant Online is quite long, but well worth a read. It encapsulates many notions I share which I have found difficult to express. Also linked is an article  from The Australian by  former Queensland Treasurer, Keith Delacy, which deals with the manifestation of the values Starck decries.

Renewable Energy Target

Email sent to Opposition Leader Tony Abbott on 21.06.12.
Dear Tony,

The cost of electricity is a real hip pocket nerve issue which the ridiculous carbon tax has drawn attention to. It is a fact that the renewables target has a greater impact on the cost of electricity than does the carbon tax. There can be no better time than now to withdraw the Coalition's support for the renewable energy target with ever increasing numbers of people now coming to realise the scientific scam that the whole anthropogenic green house hypothesis represents.

In line with your "Beaufort declaration", I urge you to "go the whole hog" and in addition to your very welcome commitment to axe the carbon tax, to also withdraw support for the RET.

Lake Eyre Trip - 3rd to 5th May, 2012

Preamble
In August,2010 Gail and I made an abortive attempt to see Lake Eyre by air from Adelaide. The story of that visit is recorded on my Blog. At the suggestion of my stockbroker friend John Reynolds,who has a keen interest in the Burke and Wills saga, we decided to make another attempt this year.

My former Dalgety colleague David Miller of Dubbo has made a name for himself in Australian aviation with his Air Link charter and commuter airline business now owned by Regional Express, but still run by David. David knows inland Australia like the back of his hand and is a very experienced pilot. At Clyde he acted as our unofficial aviation adviser which included servicing our aircraft and recruiting our pilots. I conferred with him and we put together a plan to fly out of Dubbo in an Air Link Piper Chieftain charter, with David at the controls with six passengers-John and Susan Reynolds, John's friends GP Ed. Ryan and his wife Susie, and Gail and me.

Thursday,3rd May

We took off from Dubbo after 9:00AM after some clown (me) had to return to the Motel to pick-up his suit bag which he'd left in a cupboard! Why a suit-see my next post.

We flew to Bourke for a refuelling stop, over-flying former Clyde property Oxley in the Macquarie Marshes. I regailed my fellow travellers over the aircraft P.A. system on the ecological glory of the Marshes and the complete absence of conflict between good environmental management and good commercial (cattle) outcomes. Oxley, from 5,000 feet, looked a picture.

From Bourke we headed WNW for Thurloo Downs as I was keen to show everyone the Bulloo Overflow country-see my Blog post-25th April,2010. I regretted not contacting my friend Peter Hughes and arranging to land and introduce my companions to the largest private landholder in NSW. We got a good view of the overflow water, but much less than in 2010 and then flew over the NSW/Queensland border and many lakes carrying abundant water, before striking the Cooper Channels as that watercourse swings to the west towards South Australia.

We landed at the Dig Tree and , of course were reminded of that great Australian exploration saga of mismanagement and appallingly bad luck. Whilst most Australians know of the late arrival back at Cooper's Creek of the smaller party which had been to the Gulf and back, to discover that the base camp had been abandoned about nine hours earlier, it was John Reynolds who pointed out that that was only the beginning of the bad luck/bad management. Subsequent visits to the camp site by Brahe and Wright (returning from the base camp party) and Will's himself and the failure of all of them to leave a clear indication that they had been there, contributed to the deaths of Burke and Wills. Cooper's Creek was running strongly, from the March rains.

As we flew out of the Dig Tree I was surprised at how different the country appeared from our visit of two years previously when we didn't land and were mostly over 10,000 feet!. What appeared to be well grassed, undulating grazing land dominated until the lakes of the Congie area appeared. Lots of water.

There was plenty of water to be seen in the Diamantina as we approached Birdsville. We strolled around the town and arranged to have a drink with David and Nell Brook at the pub. They are a fascinating, switched on couple, with real life commercial and environmental experience of the Channel Country. David is the third generation of his family who have been in Birdsville and has lived all his life in the district and says that the last three years is the best run of seasons he has seen. He has now rebuilt cattle numbers to their pre-drought levels. ABC TV were in town and that day had done some filming of Brook family cattle in some Adria Downs cattle yards. We subsequently saw this great footage on the ABC News. Wonderfully conditioned Hereford cattle. I was interested to learn that former Clyde cattle agent/bull buyer, Charlie Weyman-Jones, is now doing a similar job for the Brooks.

Friday, 4th May
We took off from Birdsville as David and Nell Brook took-off for Longreach to a Stockman's Hall of Fame event. Nell at the controls whilst David was writing his speech-he is the Chairman. David rang to say that the fresh in the Diamantina had reached "Cowarrie"-downstream of Goyder's Lagoon. We followed the river South and I was blown away by the vastness of the Goyder Lagoon wetland. It makes the Macquarie Marshes look like a pocket handkerchief. Not sure who the lucky grazier/s is, but it would be a great asset.

As the water comes back together below the Lagoon the river changes its name to the Warburton and swings around towards the west. A breakout stream heads into Lake Eyre and
a little later after joining another river from the north/west (the Macumba) the mainstream becomes the Warburton Groove and flows into the Lake.

We were surprised at how little water there appeared to be in Lake Eyre North-really only a good body in the southern end which at the very south takes on a red ochre appearance. Otherwise appears just a huge expanse of white salt with some damp patches. Lake Eyre south had more visible water, which I noted mainly comes from the Flinders Ranges.

Some interesting topography formations as you fly south.

We landed at Leigh Creek for refuelling and I noted from the air a well established town servicing the mines which supply the coal to Whyalla.

Then on to Wilpena Pound, landing at Rawnsley Park. We did a Sunset Tour from the WP Resort which was simply some eats and drinks from a nearby hill watching the sun set over the hills surrounding the Pound. Hard spinifex country.

Saturday 5th May
Great views of the Pound as we took off against a rising sun. As we flew to Broken Hill for refuelling and an airport breakfast I was very conscious of how little I know of the S.A. Pastoral country.

From Broken Hill we got a good, long distance view of the Menindee Lakes before striking the Paroo floodwaters. To my surprise it appeared that the Paroo was still flowing in to the Darling in two spots. The passage of the Darling floodwaters was still very clear. We flew over Toorale and I requested everybody to join me in a cry! I was challenged to explain McCaughey's Warrego water spreading system in the time available.

Les Walsh (Landmark, Bourke) had kindly left a vehicle for us at the Bourke airport to drive to the Showground via the wharf and the main street. At the Show it was clear that people were all shocked by Wayne O'Mally's death the previous Sunday in an aircraft accident. In opening the Show the Bourke Mayor (Andrew Lewis) bracketed Wayne's death, the drought and the loss of Toorale, as the major disasters which had hit the district in the last decade. I thought the Show was smaller than usual, but still a great show and a tribute to the resilience of the community.

Gail and I stayed on in Bourke to attend Wayne's funeral on the following Monday whilst the rest of the party went on to Dubbo and connecting flights to Sydney. This was a great trip in really good company.

Full photo gallery.

Toorale

I sent the following two letters to The Australian on 16th May. The second one was published as the lead letter on 17th May,2012

to letters

Your front page article and editorial (The Australian, May 16) highlights the whole fiasco of the Commonwealth and NSW Government’s purchase of Toorale Station.

In opening the Bourke Show on 5^th May, the current Mayor referred to the disasters that had hit Bourke in recent times-the death of former Mayor Wayne O’Mally in an aircraft accident the previous Sunday, the Millenium Drought and the loss of Toorale. Bracketing Toorale with these events demonstrates the depth of feeling in the community in the totally unnecessary economic blow that the conversion of the district’s most productive property to a National Park represents.

Toorale was an iconic Darling River sheep station of 247,000 acres. It included about 7,000 acres in the form of a state of the art irrigation (cotton) farm. The purchase was driven by a political desire on the part of South Australian Senator Penny Wong to be seen “to do something” to reduce water extractions from the Darling and Warrego Rivers. Yet the reality is that it has minimal impact.  If Toorale had continued to operate it would have reduced river flows in the Darling River past Louth in 2010/11 by 0.01%! In low flow periods no extractions or diversions are allowed. In other words, great social cost, for no environmental benefit. 

The irrigation water storage (Ross' Billabong) on Toorale is estimated to hold approximately 10,000 megalitres and this is the only irrigation storage on the Station and apart from any water that may have gone direct on to irrigation fields, this is the maximum amount that can be claimed as being "returned to the Darling". Water for this storage can be pumped from the Darling or diverted from the Warrego. 

The Warrego River, which is mostly not flowing and is only a shallow gutter, runs through the property from north to south. It has five dams on it, all of which have two four foot diameter pipes (and gates) in the bed of the river. These allow smaller flows to pass through to the Darling. They were closed towards the end of a flow so as to retain water for livestock and domestic purposes, both for Toorale and neighbours, not for irrigation. 

When there is too much Warrego water for the pipes to carry, the river spills out to the west and runs down a natural flood plain, flooding over 20,000 acres before entering the Darling downstream of the main Warrego/Darling junction.

The original dams on the Warrego were built in the late 1890's by the legendary Sir Samuel McCaughey and apart from providing livestock and domestic water storages, one was designed to push smaller flows out on to the western flood plain where the water stimulates the most prolific growth of natural pasture, ideal for livestock fattening. 

The very reasonable requirement of the NSW Government, in the second half of last century, to place the pipes in the bed of the river and allow smaller flows to pass through to the Darling, effectively means that natural conditions have been replicated. If there is too much water for the open pipes to carry, the river would have spilled to the west anyway. 

Thus, the Government cannot claim any additional "savings" as a consequence of the purchase of the irrigation licenses other than the water which could be stored for irrigation purposes in Ross' Billabong-10,000 megalitres. The removal of the dams and banks would NOT provide any more water to the Darling.

The conversion of the whole property to a National Park has taken Bourke's most productive station out of production with all of the harmful impact this has on the Bourke economy. Toorale used to pay 5% of Bourke's total Shire rates, now it pays nothing. It has been estimated that it contributed 10% of the district’s GDP.

 An investment of $23.75m. for less than 0.5% of the flow doesn't sound like good economics to me.

(David Boyd is the retired Chairman and CEO of Clyde Agriculture Limited, the former owner of Toorale Station)

On the assumption that my earlier letter may be too long for publication here is a shorter one!

Dear Editor,

The article and editorial on Toorale (The Australian-16th May) highlights the absurdity of this Government purchase ($23.75M) in the first place. Had Toorale's cotton farm (less than 3% of its total area) operated in 2010/11 it would have extracted/diverted 0.01% of the Darling River's flow past Louth-just downstream. In dry years no extractions/diversions are allowed. 

Thus, Bourke has been deprived of Toorale's significant contribution to the local economy for negligible environmental benefit. The Warrego River which runs through the station to its junction with the Darling has a number of dams which are for stock and domestic purposes (not irrigation) for Toorale and some of its neighbours. These dams all have huge pipes low in the river bed and if these pipes are kept open the water will run freely to the Darling and effectively replicates natural conditions. No additional water to the Darling would be obtained by the removal of the dams and banks. When there is too much water for the pipes/river to carry the river overflows to the west, waters a magnificent flood plain of over 20,000 acres with the overflow joining the Darling downstream of the main Warrego junction.

(David Boyd is the retired Chairman and CEO of Clyde Agriculture Limited the former owner of Toorale)