Australia is in the grip of a major drought. Farmers are at breaking point, governments are desperately formulating responses. But the reality is this drought has been entirely self-inflicted due to government water policy and bureaucratic mismanagement in the 21st century. My guest on WilmsFront tonight, water consultant and third-generation irrigation farmer Ron Pike, explains how this drought was created.

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Show Description

Ron explains how the federal Water Act of 2007 and the Murray Darling Basin Plan and statutory authorities took irrigation rights away from farmers. Since then, water from the basin has been flushed out to sea to be wasted as part of environmental flows.

Farmers now have to pay more than eight times to access water and are prosecuted for going over their allocations. Many have been forced from their farms from which their families have provided Australia’s food for generations. The knock-on effect for rural towns and business has been devastating.

Ron has a written solution to fix this, which politicians can use at any time if they are serious about preventing a rural revolt. Water is just one aspect of Australia’s current economic crisis with energy prices increasing, which also killed our manufacturing sector.

NewsLinks

Ron Pike at Quadrant Online
Alan Jones takes the PM to task over the drought in heated interview – 2GB
Jones tears up live on-air in emotional tribute to struggling farmers – Sky News
Pauline Hanson breaks down in tears as she delivers passionate message to our farmers – 2GB
Murray–Darling Basin Authority
Northern Basin Commissioner Role

Author Details
Tim Wilms is the Founder and Editor in Chief of https://theunshackled.net. the Host of Tim’s News Explosion, the WilmsFront interview program and The Theorists with Andy Nolch. He based in Melbourne, Australia where he also conducts field reports.
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Tim Wilms is the Founder and Editor in Chief of https://theunshackled.net. the Host of Tim’s News Explosion, the WilmsFront interview program and The Theorists with Andy Nolch. He based in Melbourne, Australia where he also conducts field reports.