Victoria Kearney:

My oh my, whatever have we espoused here ? VK's epistle on harnessing the Nation's collective minds to unlock the mysteries of a National Water Strategy is as simplistic as her cluttered ideology, choice of analogy ( Aboriginal input ) three legged stools, psychological dissection of our frontal lobe..indeed !

Without being too paranoid about the essentials of LIFE - water, we dont need any more academics to lead us by the nasal oriface to ' spiritually ' solve what is already costing this Nation $ 12 B ( Water Resources Communique ) with more bureaucrats, departments etc.. in case VK doesn't know - we do have a National Policy on Water Management.

It has been the Policy of Government's to build Dams,weirs, canal catchment area's ever since demographers realised population growth would exceed and outstrip Natural resources. Unfortunately, many of the Dam sites are not ideally located, generally. In Queensland, Politician's ( finance appropriations ) decreed where exactly - despite expert advice to the contrary. Result - poor catchment, salt pans, wasted resources - monuments to Pollie's alter ego's !!

In the good old days of Joh BJP. He personally instructed a mega Dam to be built not far from his home, to ensure his vast peanut acreages would never go without ! This legagy bears his name. Not to be outdone, Sir William Gunn before his retirement also built a similar monolith at Gatton. Lake Dyer Dam is bone dry 9 months of a year. Minister for Everything at the time, Russ Hinze located his Dam in the hinterland, adjacent to his vast family estate - fortunately it's 83 % full, in the worst drought in 200 years. His testament, on a shoestring budget - neglected to provide for flood mitigation in the Nerang. In a one in a huindred scenerio residents and business in the region would be inundated, just like the 1974 floods ! Experts all agree Dam gates over the spillway would have been a sensible alternative. This is the Gold Coast Waterway Authority's worst kept secret.

continued..

In the 80's NSW and Vic Water Boards, decided it would be wise to sell off the infrastructure to Big Business - notably Oversea's Constortium's. Both State's were in financially dire straits, and selling off the crown jewels was a Politician's nightmare. No one envisaged two decades later, water is not only the scarcest commodity, the price to buy it back has sky rocketed ! Of course, the suffering Public will have to wear it - ipso facto. So much for soothesayer's and academia, with their dreams of providing the basic nesessities for the hoi polloi. It could only happend in a Third World Country ? Dont bet on it.

The Indegenous Native's are the world's worst examples of Water conservation. It's against their culture to build anything larger than a 'gunhya'.They are a nomadic race,and all the sanitised history we have been indoctrinated in schools with,prove without the whiteman, welfare and social handouts, he would still be living in Stoneage. Kakadu is a prime case in point. They have ruined a Natural Conservatory that should belong to everybody. Uluru is another. The landscape is littered with plastic,plonk bottles, and the Gins still beg for a living.

Very recently, Palm Island was the centre of a pitch battle with Police. Not only did they torch the station, they destroyed Public property meant for their own well being. Among other misdemeanours, they threatened life and limb. It took a month to restore Law and Order.

Of more importance, they ran the taps dry. They wasted no time in alerting the ' Courier Mail' of their plight.The Island's reservoir was severly mismanaged and not maintained - worst, ecoli was discovered in a routine sample. A Ranger told me he wouldn't drink the water. It was polluted. The Aboriginal Affair's Minister had to arrage asap water tankers to alleviate a crisis situation. BTW, the scarce water was not compromised to put out the inferno.

There is nothing novel in Mrs Kearney's repertoire. Calling for Summit's is old hat. Pity she lives in a cacoon of Academia - indicative of the Forum's naivette.

Cheers

I think my browser must have cut part of the article out somehow, because I cannot for the life of me see what is actually being proposed by way of a solution, nor even any concrete suggestion as to how a solution might be found.

Sylvia.

Well, the only meaningful thing I gleaned out of this article is;

“We now need to develop and perhaps even legislate for sustainability education programs in all organisations which assist us as decision makers, students and academics to grasp this interdependence and spiritual perspective.”

…..if you replace the last two words with something like; ‘the imperative to reach sustainability as soon as possible’.

It should be all about a logical scientific approach, undertaken with a holistic perspective. Sorry, but the spiritual aspect completely misses the mark as far as I am concerned.

Help! Call out the SAS, the fairies are invading. We must drive them back to the bottom of the garden.
While were waiting for the SAS, I would like to debunk one myth, which our illustrious leader has managed to establish, with just one little lie.
We are not in the worst drought for a century. We are not even in much of a drought.
For this wet season, November to now, we are 37% above average.
For this decade so far, 2000, to 2005 we have had 300mm more rain than we had in the same period last decade, 1990 to 1995.
This fact can be checked so easily I find it hard to believe he can get away with it.
What is it they say? If you are going to lie, Make sure its a big one. Its more likely to be believed.
Is our media so incompetent? or do they want to let this government off the hook, on lack of water infrastucture planning.
Not that I mind too much, I think its about time that the city was made to source its water from within its own boundaries. It can not be allowed to draw on the resources of an ever increasing area of the state to support an increasingly superfluous,if not parasitic population, in a small corner.

....From early reaction and forum comments the objetcive of a poltical activist and change agent has been achieved... to challenge....
For the record I am not an academic but someone who has worked as a lobbyist on National Water policy ( for the past 5 years) and as strategic planner/ community development practitioner in government for over 20 years and currently working as sustainability educator in the private sector.
The knee jerks are what would have been expected,but play the ball not the person. There are few notable change agents who didn't give up when faced personal ridicule and for now I am also not one!

There are a few of mentors who are prominent scientists Prof Ian Lowe, Prof Dexter Dunphy who also advocate politically challenging the purist scientific-alone approach to resolve complexity on environmental issues and the need to integrate a public moral, ethical and spiritual perspective; a new world view to provide guidance for public policy decision making . We need a more integrated approach to water policy management which allows us to hear and understand the position of all others across cultural, political and discplinary boudaries. The will not be achieved unless we see things differently. The article uses metaphors which are not meant to abduct the agenda, but create discussion. This is about advocating for a more balanced approach in public polciy decisions making,crossing boundaries and working together differntly.

Learning a new way; to drop ego and power positions in order to improve outcomes for the whole who say they care about our environment. This 'feel good groovy approach' is exaclty what we need, a sharing of our interdependence!
The reactions to the article just reinforce the commitment and urgent need for educating for change