In a recent media release, Mark Coulton, federal member for Parkes, reported that the government intended releasing a carp- specific herpes virus in western NSW with a $15 million plan to rid our waterways of one of the country’s most damaging pests within30 years.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity based on cutting-edge biological controls and backed by the best available science,” Mr Coulton said.
Recently, the Knitting Nannas Against Gas in Dubbo delivered a bucket of “Herpes for Santos” to Mr Coulton’s office.
The ladies would like the National Party leader to address the concerns of rural citizens and farmers in NSW and rid them of the threat to waterways and the Great Artesian Basin of one of the greatest pests since early settlement: Santos and its Coal Seam Gas strategy to build an 850-well gas-field in the Pilliga Forest.
From 15 years of CSG activity in the Pilliga, locals have been able to monitor the evidence of contaminated aquifers with dangerous levels of heavy metals and radioactive material, land-poisoning from CSG sites where rehabilitated flora still refuses to grow and increasing levels of pollution.
A March 2015 scientific report commissioned for the Great Artesian Basin Protection Group has confirmed that Santos’ Narrabri CSG project “could be enough to stop bores flowing throughout the basin, which is the sole water source for towns and farms across 22 per cent of Australia.”
The basin covers almost a quarter of the country, and is the only supply of fresh water for much of inland Australia.
No Great Artesian Basin means no farming.
It means no cattle-grazing.
It means no irrigation and no drinking water for rural communities.
If Mr Coulton is genuinely concerned about the water in his electorate, and so readily persuaded by “best available science’, he needs to flush out all of the prospective pests in rural NSW and fund the eradication of Santos.
Margaret McDonald
Dubbo
