About the stop the drains coalition

Background

The USE Dryland Salinity and Flood Management Act 2002 provides the legislative base for the construction, maintenance and operation of the 650 klms drainage network in the State's Upper South East. 150 kms are still to be constructed.

The current estimated cost of the USE Plan is $78 million, funded through an $18m levy on landholders, $30m from the South Australian State government and $30m provided by the Commonwealth government through the National Heritage Trust.

The project commenced in 1993, with the objectives of addressing a predicted increasing salinity problem on account of excess surface water inundation and rising watertables. The project sought to improve biodiversity values and wetland health, promote conservation and revegetation, and increase agricultural productivity.

Conditions of Commonwealth Assistance

The first of the Commonwealth's 15 conditions for the provision of funding was:

"The works comprise a surface water scheme only (apart from the proposed deep drain trial in Stage 1)."

Despite this condition, the USE Program Board has selectively and systematically ignored scientific evidence and has overseen a predominantly, indeed compulsory, deep groundwater drainage scheme.

The second condition on Commonwealth assistance stated:

"The recommendations contained in the USE Dryland Salinity and Flood Management Plan Assessment Report span (Jan. 1995) are broadly adhered to as part of the further planning, design, construction and operation of the scheme."

The failure to undertake an ongoing reappraisal of the scheme as envisaged in the Assessment Report represents a contravention of Condition 2. Impacts of drainage on wetlands and significant areas of native vegetation have not been minimized, monitored or audited as required in the Assessment Report.

Stage 3 of The Upper South East Dryland Salinity and Flood Management Program - NAP Priority Project Proposal (start date March 2003) emphasized the need for an Adaptive Environmental Management System and under Sec.3, Project Management Condition 3.2 stated:

"The proposed management structure, including the establishment of an Environmental Management Advisory Group (EMAG), to ensure environmentally efficient and effective management of the USE Plan, must be implemented with the proviso that an independent auditor, to be agreed by the Program Board, be appointed to audit the management package, on an annual basis whilst Commonwealth assistance is being provided, and that this must be a role for EMAG."

The fact that the audit provision has never been complied with and that wetlands and significant areas of native vegetation continue to be adversely affected and contaminated by groundwater drains underlines the urgent requirement for an immediate environmental audit before further damage is done.

Question

What is the Commonwealth Government process to deal with the knowledge that a State Government is misusing Commonwealth Government environmental funding?