Don’t let billions of litres flow to billionaires

Traditional Custodians of the Martuwarra (Fitzroy River) in the Kimberley consider it a living, sacred ancestral being. The Martuwarra is also the largest registered Aboriginal Cultural Heritage site in Western Australia, and supports biodiversity found nowhere else on Earth.

Yet vested interests, such as billionaires like Gina Rinehart, are eyeing off the precious water flows of the Martuwarra (Fitzroy River) for inappropriate development—large scale irrigated agriculture.[1]

True to form, these vested interests are trying to keep their plans secret, in the hope of siphoning away billions of litres of living water—that in turn will grow their billions ...

Traditional Custodians of the Martuwarra (Fitzroy River) in the Kimberley consider it a living, sacred ancestral being. The Martuwarra is also the largest registered Aboriginal Cultural Heritage site in Western Australia, and supports biodiversity found nowhere else on Earth.

Yet vested interests, such as billionaires like Gina Rinehart, are eyeing off the precious water flows of the Martuwarra (Fitzroy River) for inappropriate development—large scale irrigated agriculture.[1]

True to form, these vested interests are trying to keep their plans secret, in the hope of siphoning away billions of litres of living water—that in turn will grow their billions.

Large scale irrigation practices resulted in the devastation of the Baaka (Murray Darling River) system. Together, we make sure we don’t make the same mistake again in the Martuwarra.

You can help to ensure the WA government knows that it is not in the public’s interest to siphon billions of litres of precious water from the Martuwarra (Fitzroy River) flow to billionaires and prop-up inappropriate development.

Protecting your personal information is our priority. You can read our Privacy Policy and Collection Statement.

Image: Jenita Enevoldsen

[1] Wahlquist, C. (2020) Fitzroy River: the push to prevent a repeat of the Murray-Darling basin 'disaster', The Guardian Australia.

+

You can help protect an iconic river system!

Email the WA government asking them to genuinely engage and listen to First Nations voices—like that of the Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council—and not plunge headlong into inappropriate development of an iconic river system.

Where do you live?

Compose your email

Name

Email

Subject:

To whom it may concern

Please accept these comments as a submission to the WA government’s discussion paper, “Managing water in the Fitzroy River Catchment”.

The discussion paper does not, in my view, outline an adequate pathway for the protection and sustainable development of the Martuwarra. It fails to provide mechanisms for adequate protection of the listed cultural and natural values of the Fitzroy River (Martuwarra) or its Critically Endangered species such as the freshwater sawfish. It also fails to provide First Nations people and Native Title holders with the full, prior and informed consultation, consent and ongoing role in management that they are calling for. I want the WA government to put in place the plans and resources required to ensure all people’s relationship with Martuwarra is one that respects benefits and honours duties and obligations.

Traditional Custodians of the Martuwarra in the Kimberley consider it a living, sacred ancestral being. The Martuwarra is also the largest registered Aboriginal Cultural Heritage site in Western Australia, and supports biodiversity found nowhere else on Earth. The Martuwarra is globally iconic, contains multiple outstanding universal values and therefore requires the prioritisation of adequate protection mechanisms, rather than an exploitative water management plan.

The proposed 300 gigalitres of surface water extraction is not sustainable and would have a significant impact on the Martuwarra’s ecological function, as well as its cultural health, as advised by Traditional Custodians. This volume of water is greater than the annual use of Perth and the southwest of WA combined.

I firmly support the WA government’s commitment to ‘no dams’, however this needs to be explicitly broadened to ensure coverage of surface flows from the river and floodplains via overland flow, pumps and channels. These extraction and diversion methods have resulted in major impacts on river systems globally, notably in the Murray-Darling (Bakka). This deeply-distressed system is now in need of care and management to recover.

Furthermore, the interface and interaction between groundwater and surface water in the Martuwarra is not sufficiently analysed in the discussion paper. This needs to be publicly disclosed and taken into account when considering the extraction of any living water.

The discussion paper fails to adequately outline the mechanisms to protect Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES), specifically national heritage places and threatened species such as the Critically Endangered freshwater sawfish. The risks posed by the proposed options for water extraction in the discussion paper place these listed cultural and natural values under significant threat.

I strongly urge the WA Government to recommit to a co-design process with Traditional Custodians as the driver of protection of the Martuwarra’s values, and of any economic development in the region. This needs to extend beyond the advisory body that is referenced in the discussion paper and incorporate voices like that of the Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council.

Based on the incredible values of the Martuwarra and the threats outlined above, the WA government’s election promise of protecting the Martuwarra can only be effectively realised by developing a sustainable and culturally sensitive management plan, well in advance of any planning to allocate living water to irrigated agriculture.

How we use the data you enter on this form

Do Gooder (the advocacy platform powering this online action) processes personal information from you that you enter on this form so that we can provide the functions and related services to you and The Campaigner (the organisation responsible for this online action) for their legitimate purposes, including possibly exporting it to other systems, and to effectively respond to enquiries and communications related to those services.

Specifically when you enter:

Your location data (residential address or postcode) it is used to locate your elected representative, to pre-populate your email signature and to provide The Campaigner with a visualisation of the location of the support for this campaign.
All other data you may enter, including your email address, name, telephone number, commentary and so on is used by The Campaigner to advocate for the campaign’s goals and where required may be sent to the target of the campaign.
If your support is shown on a public facing map your first name and approximate location (within a 1x1km square area) will be shown. If you uploaded a photo as part of an action that may be shown also.

The data collected by Do Gooder is also used by us in aggregate form to improve the service and may be held on your behalf outside your country of residence by our third party service providers. These providers are bound by contract to only use personal information on our behalf, in accordance with agreed terms. While the privacy laws of the country in which personal information is stored or transferred may be different from those in your country, we will always have safeguards in place when storing or transferring personal information. We will never sell, rent, loan or in any other way pass your information on to other parties other than to provide this service to you and The Campaigner.

The personal information collected by Do Gooder is held subject to a Data Processing Agreement between Do Gooder and The Campaigner in compliance with the EU's GDPR and Australian law.

Learn more about our privacy policy here

How is my data used?