Let’s not count chickens until they hatch

I’ve read a lot of positive comments about the visit to the Murray/Riverina region last week by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) and its new chairman, Sir Angus Houston.

May I emphasise that I hope this is the start of genuine efforts to repair a broken Basin Plan; one that has effectively been a political football and we are the ones the politicians have kicked around.

However, there needs to be a word of caution.

Firstly, we need to understand that the MDBA bureaucracy – those who refuse to acknowledge the environmental damage being caused by the plan or do anything about it – has not changed.

The same players given the task of implementing this policy disaster are still in their positions.

They have shown no compassion for our region, nor any commitment to work with us to fix the disaster that has unfolded under their watch.

Secondly, it would be wise if we did not forget past visits by the MDBA.

Previous visits by a past MDBA chairman have done nothing to appease local concerns, nor resulted in any steps to repair the damage.

In fact, reports have indicated that on at least two occasions some dialogue was either misrepresented at MDBA board level, or comments were ‘cherry-picked’ to present a positive but inaccurate impression.

Hopefully, that will not be the case this time and we can start moving forward. But let’s not count our chickens before they hatch.

Alan Wragge
Deniliquin, NSW