issues

Snowy Hydro sale call-off a victory for people’s power

The sudden back down by Federal and State government on the sale of the Snowy Hydro Scheme has been a real victory for people’s power.  The proposed sell-off of the Australian icon, approved without subjecting it to a vote in Parliament, provoked a rising tide of protests from the community.

On Friday 2nd June the glue was barely dry on billboard ads inviting pre-registrations for the Snowy shares sale, when first the Federal Government, shortly followed by the Victorian and NSW government, backed down under mounting public pressure.

Ian and the Greens wish to congratulate all the people who have campaigned, petitioned and expressed their disagreement over the Snowy Hydro Scheme sale proposal.

On June 7 we had another victory: Ian’s Private Member's bill, requiring approval by both houses of the NSW parliament on any proposed sale of the Snowy, became legislation with the support of members from across the floor.  This legislation will ensure that there won’t be another attempt at a short-sighted sale outside the democratic process.  For details of the bill, click here.

But the battle for the Snowy is not over: the government must act now for the restoration of promised environmental flows levels. The Snowy, once a mighty river, has been transformed into a trickle choked with sediment. The environmental flows have taken years of negotiation to secure, and are essential for maintaining the health of our major rivers and its fish population, and for the riparian vegetation habitat.

The lack of water flow has had a massive impact on native species. Those species are dependent on water flowing into the Snowy and also the rivers flowing to the west. Blackfish were a great part of the diet of Aborigines and helped the local people feed themselves during the Great Depression. But today the species is confined to a single tributary of the Snowy, the Delegate River. Teams of scientists have caught only 50 of them. The Department of Primary Industries, the Premier's Department and the Southern Rivers Catchment Management Authority have initiated a captivity breeding program to stop the extinction of this species. Once the habitat is restored blackfish will be released in two parts of the Snowy River where they are now extinct. Any delay in the restoration of environmental flows might jeopardise this project.