IT is difficult to trust politicians and governments, especially those that mislead their electorates and promote false information.
The trust becomes even more difficult when you know, from personal lived experience, that governments are not being entirely truthful.
This week I have seen, on numerous occasions, the misleading Australian Government television advertisement, paid for with our taxes, promoting the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. It actually makes me quite angry every time I see the advertisement, because I know the narrative is false.
While I acknowledge a plan was needed to protect rivers in the basin, it is not accurate to say the nation’s food supply could be threatened “if we don’t act”. Quite the opposite; the basin plan is threatening food security by not effectively balancing farming and environmental needs.
Of course, the government doesn’t tell us that the basin plan is significantly increasing flood risks for many communities and is exacerbating the damage to our rivers from European carp by providing ideal breeding conditions.
It also continues to avoid admitting that storing massive volumes of water in Upper Murray dams is of no help whatsoever to solving issues with the Darling/Baaka River, where most of the environmental problems exist.
Perhaps the Albanese government’s next advertising campaign will focus on the massive cost of the basin plan, which looks set to soar well above its $13 billion budget, and highlight the plan’s numerous failings which it continually refuses to address. Or perhaps not.
Shelley Scoullar
Albury, NSW
