CANBERRA — Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has delivered a blistering assessment of Australia’s water management, warning of an impending “summer of death” for the Murray-Darling Basin.
In a fiery Senate address, Senator Hanson-Young accused both the Federal and New South Wales governments of environmental vandalism, arguing that plans to fast-track new dam infrastructure by bypassing environmental regulations will utterly fail to address the crippling drought gripping eastern Australia.
‘Building Dams Doesn’t Make It Rain’
The Greens Senator took direct aim at the NSW State Government’s recent announcement to slash environmental protections and fast-track assessments for new dams and pipelines. She dismissed the policy as a hollow, politically motivated rush to look active in the face of public desperation.
“The big problem here is that simply building dams doesn’t make it rain,” Senator Hanson-Young said. “Building dams does not create more water.”
She argued that spending hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars on unassessed infrastructure would only accelerate the destruction of the river system and the regional economies that rely on it. According to the Greens, the projects lack both rigorous environmental impact statements and comprehensive cost-benefit analyses.
Corporate Interests vs. Dying Communities
A central pillar of the Senator’s attack was the current water allocation framework in New South Wales, which she branded “an absolute joke.”
Hanson-Young argued that newly stored water would not benefit struggling mum-and-dad farmers or local towns, but would instead be funnelled directly to large-scale corporate irrigators who feed all Australians
The Real-World Impact on the Ground:
- Towns Without Water: Regional communities are facing critical shortages, where residents literally cannot turn on the tap to get a clean glass of drinking water.
- Family Farms Left Dry: Small-scale, family-run farming operations are being left without enough water to sustain basic livestock or keep crops alive.
- Corporate Monopolisation: Large corporate irrigators continue to harvest and store massive volumes of water at the expense of the broader community and the environment.
A Climate Emergency with No Paddle
With the Bureau of Meteorology predicting an exceptionally hot and dry summer ahead, Senator Hanson-Young lambasted the government’s broader approach to climate change, describing its strategy as non-existent.
“We are in the midst of a climate emergency, and all we get from this government is ‘pray for rain.’ That’s the only plan they have. This government is up ‘crap creek’ without a paddle right now.”
An Ecological Crisis Escalating
The speech highlighted the dire ecological state of the river system, referencing the millions of native fish that perished in the Menindee Lakes system during the previous summer.
Alarmingly, she revealed that a fresh mass fish kill had been sighted within the last 48 hours—weeks before the peak heat of summer had even arrived.
“It is not even December yet—we are in October,” Hanson-Young warned. “This summer is going to be hotter and drier. We know that. That’s what the scientists are telling us… It is going to be the summer of death for the Murray-Darling Basin.”
The Greens have guaranteed that without a fundamental shift away from corporate favouritism and toward genuine climate action, the river system will be in a significantly worse position within the next three to four years, leaving family farms and river communities completely hung out to dry.
Who on Earth votes for the Greens and their crazy agendas