Water Crisis

Worst Drought In 1000 Years?
Well, here's what they're saying at the water crisis summit.

AUSTRALIA is facing its worst drought in 1000 years, state and federal leaders have been told.

River Murray Water general manager David Dreverman made the dramatic prediction at today's emergency summit on the Murray-Darling basin.

But Prime Minister John Howard, who called the summit, played down the claim, saying it was an off-the-cuff remark made after Mr Dreverman's formal presentation.

"You say worst drought in a thousand years, I don't think anybody really knows that," he said.

Treasurer Peter Costello has previously said that the drought, which has crippled vast tracts of rural land since 2001, could become the worst in Australian history, while Mr Howard has described it as the worst in living memory.

Mr Howard said the summit agreed to draw up contingency plans to secure water supplies during the current drought.

A working group of state and federal public servants will report back by December 15 on the plans to secure water supplies during the 2007-08 water year, which commences on June 1 next year.

"I think it's fair to say that we came out of it with an even more sober assessment, or understanding, of the challenge," Mr Howard said after the meeting with Victorian Premier Steve Bracks, NSW Premier Morris Iemma, South Australian Premier Mike Rann and acting Queensland Premier Anna Bligh.

What a way to start a conversation. Then there's this bit:

Mr Howard said the issue of the Queensland cotton producer Cubbie Station had been discussed, but that it was a diversion.

He said Queensland took 731 gigalitres of water from the system, of which Cubbie accounted for about 25 per cent. In contrast NSW took about 7300 gigalitres.

"You can pretty quickly see that whilst it might be an attractive subject for media focus and debate and interest, the idea that Cubbie Station is the silver bullet is nonsense," he said.

"Whether you do something about Cubbie Station and whether it's a good idea to, in a country as arid as Australia, to have intensive cotton farming is another issue and I don't offer a view on it.

"We are missing the point and getting diverted by thinking that doing something about Cubbie will solve a problem. It won't."

Victorian Premier Steve Bracks said rainfall data based on 100-year averages were no longer applicable and governments needed new data to work from.

He said the commitment to better sharing of data and new research by the CSIRO were the big outcomes of today's water summit in Canberra.

Talk about all the chickens coming home to roost at once. As Paul Sheehan pointed out, it's not a drought: it's Global Warming. You wonder when it's going to sink into the head of John Howard that this country is going crook before his very eyes, on his watch because of his lack of initiative. I'm not blaming John Howard for Global Warming, but I do hold his government responsible for not doing anything significant until last month.
...And Ian Campbell is still a mongo.