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A quick thread on this report by the Australian Academy of Science, and what it says about the Coalition government science.org.au/news-and-event…
Firstly, the report is a devastating indictment of the management of the Murray-Darling, and the failure of policy makers
That much we know already, but this report sets it out in unequivocal terms: it’s not the drought. Too much water is being extracted.
“There isn’t enough water in the Darling system to avoid catastrophic outcomes.” Upstream extraction is a major factor.
But the back story of the report is really something - it tells us just how cynical and anti-science the Morrison government is
After the Menindee fish kills, Bill Shorten wrote to Morrison asking for an independent investigation by scientists to work out the causes
Morrison rejected that request. So Labor wrote to the Australian Academy of Science requesting they write a report on the catastrophe
After the AAS agreed to that request, the government turned around and established its own - supposedly independent - scientific inquiry.
You can see the Coalition’s playbook here - try and discredit the science with their own rival inquiry. At the very least, sow confusion ...
But the scientists refused to play into that tawdry tactic. They shared data between both inquiries and peer reviewed each other’s reports
As a result, we can fairly say that the AAS report is a consensus view of the best available water science.
Of course that hasn’t stopped Water Minister David Littleproud attaching the report, even though his own ‘independent’ report isn’t yet in
All just another day in Australian politics, where the health of the nation’s largest river system comes second to vested interests
