Editor's Jottings

In a media release dated 17th June 2009, the Minister for the Murray River, Karlene Maywald, announced that the construction of the "environmental flow regulators" near Clayton would commence "this week" and that public information sessions would be held the next day (18th June) at Clayton Bay and Goolwa.

The media release also stated that the project had received Federal Government approval under certain conditions, and then continued:- "The project has also been approved by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, and received Aboriginal Heritage Approval following extensive discussion between the State Government and local
Aboriginal groups. The general community was also consulted, with public workshops held at Goolwa and Clayton in early 2009."

This position was also stated in similar terms in the "Questions and Answers" document issued on the 17th June and available at the public information sessions held on the 18th June.

This statement could be construed by some readers as indicating that the decision has the support of the local community, however that was not the mood of the public meetings which I attended earlier in the year.

In particular the Ngarrindjeri community has not given its consent to the building of the regulators. “We will suffer pain and loss as a result of the actions of the State in proceeding with construction of these regulators,” said Tom Trevorrow, Chair of the Ngarrindjeri Heritage Committee Inc. “In January 2009, we said that we did not support a weir at Clayton and that we supported an holistic approach to the problems occurring in the River, Lower Lakes and Coorong due to over allocation of water. That is still our position, but now there are three regulators that will cut up our country and waters.”

In a Kungun Ngarrindjeri Yunnan Agreement (Listen to Ngarrindjeri Speaking) entered into by the Ngarrindjeri and the State, the State has acknowledged the Ngarrindjeri will suffer pain and loss but considers that, on the basis of consistent expert advice it has received, the regulators must be built to prevent an environmental disaster in the Goolwa Channel and Tributaries.

However, in the recent announcement and related documents there has been no reference to this acknowledgement.