Climate Sceptics candidates Steve Davies (Barker) and Leon and Nathan Ashby (Senate) will tour Murray river towns early next week explaining their policy on water.
The party believes there is plenty of water in Australia and it would not support a water buy back policy for the River Murray but rather support diverting water from Northern Australian rivers as the solution for extra water to SA. It would be a vastly improved Bradfield scheme something proposed over 70 years ago by the designer of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, John Bradfield. Lead Senate candidate Leon Ashby says "Rivers such as the Clarence, Tully, Herbert, Burdekin, and Flinders in northern Australia have vast amounts flow into the sea during floods.
These floods could be diverted to flow to many places inland including down as far as Murray Bridge via gravity fed pipelines and channels."
The Climate Sceptics President Leon Ashby has lived for a decade in northern Australia running several properties and says 6 times the total of the Murray Darling water runs out to sea into the Gulf of Carpentaria each year. "There is no need to relocate communities along the Murray river to northern Australia, just use the funds promised for the ETS and water buybacks into building a visionary inland water system that provides a win win for farmers, cities and the environment. It would help populate inland Australia rather than the decimation that green ideas of the major parties espouse," the former Landcare secretary said.
He adds: "Unfortunately Green Ideology prevents politicians of all parties from thinking logically. The ideology says no dams, no diversions, no development and no common sense.
It's just common sense that Northern river diversions are the obvious answer to Murray Darling basin and inland Australia's water concerns."
Barker Candidate Steve Davies says: "Green ideology will not acknowledge the River Murray went dry 4 times in the early 1900s before weir and locks were built. Historically it's obvious the river system has gone dry hundred times in the past."
He concludes "Since the environment survived those times of no flows, we see no problem in looking after farmers irrigation needs ahead of environmental flows today."
Leon Ashby says: "Other political parties are putting the environment ahead of people. We see it differently. Climate change is cyclical, prosperity is necessary and environmental flows should cease when droughts occur so our rural communities can survive the tough times then when the waters return as they are doing now the environment recovers again."
"We see no need to take water from farmers. Many have made improvements in efficiency but they get no reward for it."
Leon Ashby concludes: "Should we get someone elected, we will work our backsides off fighting for practical solutions and primary producers rights."
