19 January 2009 in Media
The Federal and State governments must immediately use the $200 million earmarked to help save the Lower Lakes and Coorong.
It has been revealed that the Rudd government is waiting for the Rann government to “come forward with some proposals” on how best to spend the money, meanwhile the people of the Lower Lakes watch as the lakes edge towards environmental disaster.
I attended the community drought forums at Goolwa and Clayton and its clear the community is fed up with the political paralysis gripping both governments. They don’t anymore feasibility or scoping studies, they want action.
The Coalition’s $50 million emergency assistance package should be immediately allocated to help the Lower Lakes community, suffering through the prolonged drought.
In addition it has been revealed that there is currently up to 400 gigalitres of water available for sale in the system that could be bought and released to help the lakes survive. The money is in the federal budget and the government should quickly move to purchase this water.
This is a once in a 100 year drought, but just hoping for it to rain is not the political leadership the people of the Lower Lakes are looking for.