A CUBBIE STATION INVESTIGATION

MASS FISH DEATH IN DARLING RIVERIn the past few months there have been two algal bloom events in the Darling River near Menindee which has killed hundreds of thousands if not millions of fish.Devastating. A real environmental disaster. The first event was triggered by a storm and this week a cold front which kills plants that decompose and in doing so take from the water the oxygen that fish need to survive.Much of the river system along the Murray Darling catchment area has been in drought for years so it has had little chance to be flushed out and rejuvenated.First to be blamed automatically is always Cubbie Station that is not allowed to take water from river flows and instead only harvest floodwaters that would have evaporated on the huge floodplains. Before Cubbie that water was wasted on the floodplain and did not flow south into the Darling.Cubbie has not been able to harvest any floodwater since 2016.This video I shot last September is shown so that you have the facts.Sadly, blindly blaming Cubbie means the real reason for the lack of water and algal bloom events is ignored and not addressed. And that means that no solution will be provided for the people in NSW suffering drought along the Darling.While the drought is starving our rivers of fresh rain events, the Murray Darling Basin Authority MDBA can be blamed for making the conditions worse for the environment and farmers.The MDBA allocates water without measuring or recording data on most river and creek flows. The MDBA is a bureaucratic nightmare that does little to protect the environment, makes water too expensive for farmers to purchase, devastates local communities and has allowed water to be traded for profit rather than used effectively to benefit all Australians.We need to restore regional Australia and regional towns and farms – the future of our food production.This is a security issue for all of Australia.Here’s some of what people need:• A Royal Commission into the Murray Darling Basin plan that contradicts solid scientific evidence;• Water allocations to be made on the basis of solid data from measuring water flows as is the case at Cubbie;• South Australia to be held accountable for the drains it has built starting in 1864 and through to the 1990’s that divert water from the Coorong and turn it into the current toxic environmental disaster. South Australia has to be held accountable for man-made changes to the Murray River mouth and Lake Alexadrina restored to its natural state like every other Australian coastal river system. There are South Australians who understand the real problem and the solutions that we listened to in 2017.• Dams to be built outside the Murray Darling Basin in coastal areas of high rainfall and water sent to the Darling River.The Murray Darling Basin Plan and bloated bureaucracy in the MDB Authority that has exploded almost ten fold in recent years is yet another example of Liberal-Labor-Nats failed governance with the tired old parties chasing Greens preferences.In early 2016 I listened to people in Queensland within the MDB and was shocked at the economic and social devastation they are enduring with worse to come at the hands of the Greens-fueled MDBA. My concern led to immediately organising bus travel for One Nation senators along the Murray to its mouth, listening to Victorians, New South Welshmen and South Australians. I had intended to drive the length of the Darling to listen to people across NSW and especially the people of Menindee Lakes and Broken Hill suffering from the drought but was knocked out of the senate before doing so.People along the Murray river are devastated with floods that the MDBA has caused and with shortages of water due to the MDBA.The current drought is severe yet not as severe as the Federation Drought of 1901 when the Murray River stopped flowing even though there were many, many fewer people living off and using its water back then.While it’s true that the Darling River has been dry many times in Australia’s history and that’s part of life in western NSW with many photos of paddlewheel boats stuck in the dry bed of the Darling River in the 1800s and early 1900s, that does not mean we should accept that – especially when the technology is available to solve and prevent this from recurring.We understand and empathise with the people suffering along the Darling and especially in Menindee. Yet people need more than empathy. People need Australia’s support to identify the root cause of the problems and then support in building the solutions needed to prevent recurrence of their trauma.——————————————————————–Original text with video release———————————————————————A CUBBIE STATION INVESTIGATIONSHARE WITH FRIENDS https://youtu.be/94O-RG44OmsLast July I invited people to submit questions about Cubbie Station and promised to ask these on a future visit to get the facts.Last month I visited Cubbie armed with a list of questions received and a far longer list of my own questions. This recent trip followed on from my visit in early 2017.The video explains what I uncovered.Here are some key points:• Cubbie has no river water allocation.• Cubbie only harvests water from floods above a certain river height and water flow quantity.• Each time Cubbie wants to harvest water it must get permission from the state government.• There is currently no water at Cubbie due to the drought.• There are no crops currently planted at Cubbie due to no water.• The Culgoa River is dry above Cubbie – and dry below Cubbie.• Cubbie does not stop water getting to the Darling River.As with many properties and towns in western Queensland and NSW, Cubbie has a weir for domestic and stock consumption. This is NOT a dam. The amount of water in the weir is similar to that in other properties' weirs and is minuscule. It’s not enough for irrigation and does not stop water getting to the Darling.• Independent engineers check and verify Cubbie’s designs of water channels and cells and other engineering before state government approves construction• Cubbie is well designed environmentally• Earlier this year during a flood Cubbie was given permission to harvest water yet declined because it thought that the water would be better used in the environment• Cubbie understands that the health of the neighbouring environment is essential for Cubbie’s long-term future sustainability• Cubbie shows leadership in how to manage a water basin because it accurately measures water flows. This practice needs to quickly spread across the Murray-Darling Basin because currently many water allocations are decided arbitrarily and do needless damage to farming and to the natural environment. This will help the environment and all human users of water.• Cubbie is a pioneering and visionary engineering marvel that needs to be applauded for converting low productivity land to high productivity in a way that is sustainable and in harmony with the natural environment.Additional points:• The Greens misrepresent Cubbie. Like other properties and towns in western Queensland Cubbie has a weir on the river for domestic and stock water. This is entirely normal. The Greens misrepresent Cubbie's weir as a dam when it is not• Cubbie does not use the weir for irrigation because the quantity of water in the weir is minuscule• Whenever the Greens make a claim we must give their words and intent close scrutiny. Their use of misrepresentations wrapped in emotion is destroying our country’s productivity and the sharing of our country’s potential wealth with 25 million people• To get our country back on its feet for the benefit of all Australians we must support visionary projects such as Cubbie• We need to spread the remarkable achievements of Cubbie and its people. I do• We need to appreciate and commend the late Des Stevenson’s pioneering vision. I doWHEN FACTS REPLACE IDEOLOGY & IGNORANCE THE RESULT IS BETTER DECISIONS.The first step in caring for a river basin, or an animal, or a person, or a community, or a region, or a state, or a nation or a planet is to get the facts and data.Those who do not bother to get the facts or who ignorantly misrepresent things, show that they do not care.The Greens do not care about the environment.When their decisions and claims hurt people’s livelihoods it shows Greens do not care about people.Thank you to the people who raised issues about Cubbie. It stimulated me to get a deeper understanding and now I am even prouder to support this visionary and pioneering project and the people who make a livelihood from Cubbie – especially in southern Queensland.Thank you to Michael Stewart a farmer at Mondure six hours north of Cubbie who spoke first-hand to me of the realities of Cubbie and correctly classed it as an engineering marvel.

Posted by Malcolm Roberts – Pauline Hanson's One Nation on Wednesday, January 9, 2019