THE GOOD news is that the Australian Prime Minister has issued a statement
recognising the country has critical problems with salinity and water quality.
The bad news is that the level of funding he proposes to deal with the situation
is woefully inadequate.
While John Howard’s statement puts forward appropriate structures for dealing
with the issues—ending months of inter-departmental wrangling in
Canberra—the scale of the funding to be made available and the conditions
attached to it fall well short of the mark.
Still, in reading the PM’s statement—entitled Our Vital
Resources—I had to pinch myself. I could…
