THE GOOD news is that the Australian Prime Minister has issued a statement
recognising the country has critical problems with salinity and water quality.
The bad news is that the level of funding he proposes to deal with the situation
is woefully inadequate.
While John Howard鈥檚 statement puts forward appropriate structures for dealing
with the issues鈥攅nding months of inter-departmental wrangling in
Canberra鈥攖he scale of the funding to be made available and the conditions
attached to it fall well short of the mark.
Still, in reading the PM鈥檚 statement鈥攅ntitled Our Vital
Resources鈥擨 had to pinch myself. I could hardly believe that I was
holding a government release, as opposed to something put out by a conservation
group.
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It said that at least 2.5 million hectares, or 5 per cent of cultivated land,
is now affected by dryland salinity, and that this could rise to 22 per cent on
present trends. It conceded that a third of Australian rivers are in extremely
poor condition. It warned that within 20 years Adelaide鈥檚 drinking water will
fail World Health Organisation salinity standards on two days out of five. It
estimated that land and water degradation cost the nation up to A$3.5
billion a year. And it cited a CSIRO prediction that dryland salinity will cause
the loss of up to half the bird species in some agricultural areas. That is an
alarming list.
Our Vital Resources proposes a National Action Plan. It recommends a
new structure to oversee the remedial work鈥攁 single Natural Resource
Management Council which would be responsible for setting targets and standards,
as well as monitoring progress. It would replace the plethora of Commonwealth,
state and territory bodies now grappling with these problems. The statement also
urges buying or 鈥渃lawing鈥� water allocations back from irrigators to restore the
integrity of water systems. Finally, it recognises that all these problems are
long term issues which will require a sustained commitment from all levels of
government and the community over a decade or more. So far, so good.
Unfortunately, the resources provided are hopelessly inadequate. The
government鈥檚 own estimate of the annual cost, A$3.5 billion, justifies a
substantial injection of funds. A recent joint study by the National Farmers鈥�
Federation and the Australian Conservation Foundation put the overall price tag
for a systematic remedial programme at more than A$50 billion.
But the National Action Plan only allocates A$700 million over seven
years鈥攁nd even that amount is conditional on the states and territories
contributing matching funds to make A$1.4 billion from their more limited
resources.
That won鈥檛 happen. It鈥檚 a bit like the government, having noticed that a bush
fire is devastating rural Australia, saying it will provide a water pistol if
the fire-fighters can get another one from somewhere else. It just isn鈥檛 good
enough.
IT鈥橲 A long road that knows no turning. Twenty years ago Malcolm Fraser, as
Prime Minister of Australia, was busy rolling back the reforms of the Whitlam
government. And his Treasurer, one John Howard, was ushering in the era of
economic fundamentalism. About 10 years ago, the editor-in-chief of the
Weekend Australian sacked me as a columnist because he thought I was
wasting my space on irrelevant questions, such as the role of science and
technology in our future and the need for more investment in education and
R&D.
Last month, The Australian published a column by Malcolm Fraser
calling for greater investment in education and research. 鈥淭he market left to
itself will not necessarily ensure the prosperity and wellbeing of 20 million
Australians,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淚t is necessary to plan for the prosperity and
wellbeing of a nation.鈥� I couldn鈥檛 have put it better myself ten years ago.
AT PRESENT, I am in New Zealand, at Gisborne in the North Island, for the
Eco-2000 conference of the Futures Trust. I will also be speaking on how to
shape a sustainable future at public meetings in Auckland, Wellington and
Christchurch. The trip focused my attention on the opportunity Australia and New
Zealand have to show the rest of the world the way to such a future鈥攁nd we
could even make money out of it, by establishing new economic activities and
providing advice to others. We have a strong enough base, and the success of the
Olympic and Paralympic Games should give us all the confidence we need.