Water threat Howard’s final assault on farmers? [by Andrew Phillips]
By Andrew Phillips, 23rd April 2007
The suspicions held by Australian Protectionists regarding the machinations of internationalists over the water issue have gained weight following Howard’s recent blustering about water control.
Responsible Aussies are well aware of the crisis facing our nation. Australians have, with minimal complaint, changed their water usage habits in order to conserve water and accepted the government imposed regulations covering water use.
However, governments of both political hues in both the Federal and State political spheres have consistently dragged their heels (despite raking in millions through the added “River Murray Levy”) when it comes to averting the impending disaster awaiting our nation.
During the last Federal election, only the One Nation Senate team raised the issue of desalination plants — an issue consistently ignored by the other parties as well as much of the media, despite continued evidence that we were in for dire consequences if we didn’t plan for the future.
It should come as no surprise that the Coalition (with Labor continually baying in the background like petulant children for Australia to sign the Kyoto Agreement while ignoring the ramifications of such an action) has now chosen to play the bully boy against our nation’s food producers and threatened to over-ride the Australian Constitution by cutting off the water to our farmers.
As stated in other articles I have written, Section 100 of the Australian Constitution states: “The Commonwealth shall not, by any law or regulation of trade or commerce, abridge the right of a state or of the residents therein to the reasonable use of the waters of rivers for conservation or irrigation”.
This right cannot be overturned (like the rest of our Constitution) without recourse to a referendum put to the people of our nation.
Should Howard and his anti-Australian cronies succeed in their threat to turn off the water and deny our nation’s farmers access, a number of ugly issues then raise their heads (as with most decisions taken by globalism obsessed internationalists).
Firstly, the livelihoods of an estimated 50,000 farmers will be placed at risk, not to mention the associated industries and the economic survival of many regional towns. What is at risk is 40% of our nation’s agricultural production.
Of course, the globalists shrug their shoulders and say “So what? Australians will appreciate paying a fraction for their food when it is imported from the Third World”.
Importation of food from the Third World raises another unpalatable scenario. First, there is little we can do to regulate their production techniques. Many readers may have seen television reports showing human excrement used to “fertilize” vegetables in China and the filthy conditions used to process fish, meat and vegetable produce in other parts of Asia. Indeed, much of this produce was for the export market.
Likewise, in the rush to get cheap (and you can bet it will only be cheap for the short term) foodstuffs onto Australian supermarket shelves, can we trust the government to regulate the chemicals used to fumigate the produce prior to shipment?
Our nation’s primary producers have a world wide reputation for clean produce at a decent price. By denying them water, it will take most of them at least 8-10 years to return to a level of adequate production, that is assuming most of them can still hold their lands in the face of pressure from the banks or haven’t sold up to unscrupulous Managed Investment Companies for a pittance.
In the face of the government’s reticence to defend our nation’s apple producers from continued assaults by Bio-Security Australia in their quest to flood our market with Fire Blight apples from New Zealand, are the Australian people confident that the same government will ensure our nation is secure from the introduction of citrus canker and other diseases in their endless quest to flood our country with cheap produce?
Our reputation and ability to produce top quality food free of disease will be lost forever. Our farmers will be reduced to the same level as their regional counterparts, producing substandard food, consistently struggling with introduced diseases in order to simply make ends meet.
That’s the reality of the “level playing field….”
No-one can deny the nation is facing a crisis. However, a nation-centred government would be practicing a high degree of fiscal responsibility at such a time. Rather than sending billions of dollars of Australian taxpayers’ funds overseas to prop up and placate every two bit, tin pot corrupt Third World dictatorship in the region, our taxes should be used to build vital infrastructure such as desalination plants and pipelines to ensure adequate water supplies to our nation’s producers.
The ability to produce food in quantities that ensure self-sufficiency is an issue of National Sovereignty.
By refusing to ensure adequate water supplies to our farmers and choosing to pursue the “easier“ short term solution of forcing our farmers off their land and throwing a few years of compensation at them, our politicians are displaying a gross dereliction of duty towards their constituents and a blatant disregard for our National Constitution.
Australia — it’s your country, take it back!
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