The Greens’ Sarah Hanson-Young has stood in solidarity with
desperate Riverland residents who have rallied in Adelaide today to
voice their frustration about inaction from Government on the Murray.

“Australia is experiencing a water emergency. Here in South
Australia the water crisis is inherently linked to complex problems in
the Murray-Darling Basin and we need urgent action to restore water
security for both our farming communities and our suburban residents,”
Greens Senate candidate for South Australia Sarah Hanson-Young said
today.

“We need a re-think of how we manage water, and share this limited
resource across different states. For too long SA has had to survive
off the dregs of what is left at the bottom of the river system; this
needs to change.

“SA farmers in particular are copping the brunt of years of inaction
and poor government management of the Murray-Darling system. The
long-term impact of over-allocations coupled with the severity of the
drought is having a devastating affect on our rural communities.

“We need immediate action to address over-allocation and provide
significant support to help landholders and basin communities’
transition to sustainable new enterprises. There is an urgent need for
governments to act to prevent a serious tragedy for our community and a
disaster for the environment,” Ms Hanson-Young said.

“Continuing business as usual is not acceptable. Securing food and
fuel supplies on the driest continent on earth in the face of climate
change needs a complete rethink about how and what we do in agriculture.

“The major parties’ response to farmers has been to say either ‘hang
on’ or ‘walk off the land’. Funding to farmers needs to be within a
framework that helps farmers to transition their farming systems to be
more resilient in a changing climate.

The Greens have again called for a full sustainability audit of land-use and extraction within the Murray-Darling Basin.

“This Government has stood idly by ignoring the impacts of climate
change - keeping our farming communities hanging on, praying for a
break in the drought while their assets run down,” said Ms Hanson-Young.

“It is appalling that water security has not even rated a mention
from either of the major parties as one of the top issues, with no
funding being pledged to support our struggling farming communities
like SA’s Riverland.

“It’s simply not good enough, we must give our rural communities a voice,” concluded Ms Hanson-Young.