USE Project Contributions

The Upper South East Project is a $100m project - $78m by the Government's reckoning - but the stop the drains coalition adding $22m for the land grab by the Government for the drainage alignments which have never appeared in any audit of the Upper South East Project. i.e. in round figures $40m landholder & Upper South East contribution, $30m contribution each for State and Federal Governments.

The figure of $22m comes from Evan Pettingill, former CEO of the Southern Eastern Water Conservation and Drainage Board, who was quoted in the Border Watch recently in an article entitled "$22m land grab claim". Mr Pettingill was contacted and confirmed the report - and Evan administered the Upper South East Project for many years until the Upper South East Program Board took over - that he considered that the Upper South East Project had destroyed environmental and biodiversity values more than it had enhanced them.

This is a quiet and damning indictment - especially if $100m million of community and taxpayer funds are being spent.

This positive/negative balance of public accounting is another reason why the stop the drains coalition has been calling for the environmental audit.

The audit must be thorough and balanced and cover all aspects of landscape management from the top of the hills to the bottom of the drains.