Talk About a Load of Rubbish!

Somehow governments can always find millions to fund festivals, sporting events, even concerts, crowing about the economic benefits. Yet our emblematic Brisbane River still suffers buck-passing and underfunding.

What are they talking about now? More to the point, what are they doing?

When will governments wake up to the fact our city’s vital artery could and should be our river of gold?

The Queensland Government is rolling out $175 million in funding for Commonwealth Games facilities. They’ve signed up to spend upwards of $20 million to keep the V8s on track. And goodness knows what Sir Elton’s foray into regional Queensland is costing.

Yet we read more reports about the endless search for funding for our river. The SEQ Council of Mayors is even apparently considering slugging tourists to keep the river clean. (‘$2-a-night tourist levy could pay for Brisbane River upgrade’, Brisbane Times, 22/09/16)

Of course we don’t really begrudge event funding. But the economic payback is often short-lived. We mention it only to highlight the myopic view by governments when it comes to maintaining and enhancing the quality and appearance of the Brisbane River.

Why is it not a priority budget issue for the Queensland Government? In fact, what have they ever done other than assemble committees and commission reports? Surely keeping our river clean is a fundamental role for government.

Why should tourists pay to fix a problem of our making? We (and that means our State Government) need to fix the problem so the tourists will actually keep paying to come here.

Think of the immense potential for economic benefit if cleaning and maintaining our river were made funding priorities. And it would be of lasting, recurring benefit, so cost effective.

Major assets relying on the beauty of the river for their appeal – Eagle Street, South Bank, New Farm, et al. And billions more is about to be invested in river-focused infrastructure, including Queen’s Wharf and the Howard Smith Wharves.

On a recent river paddle, we were appalled at the amount of floating food packaging and plastic bottles (don’t get us started on the multi-nationals who lobby against bottle refunds). We should hang our heads in shame. Countries like Japan and Singapore, with far greater population density, don’t tolerate it. Imagine what they must think when they visit here!

Much of the talk about our poor water quality centres around high sediment levels and run-off, blaming Lockyer Valley farmers. Sure, that is a big issue. But even at the most basic level of floating rubbish, our river is a disgrace.

The authorities argue over the big picture when they can’t even manage the most basic of issues – rubbish pollution. At least start by solving that, then work up to bigger problems.

It’s not all the farmers’ fault. Has government forgotten about the decades of damaging dredging? What about the huge land subdivisions and new residential buildings; have any developers or builders ever been fined for poor run-off management?

Sure, some gains have been made by the ‘Resilient Rivers Initiative’ and Healthy Waterways. We applaud those efforts. But the mountain of bureaucracy, the endless talk-fests, and the plethora of reports haven’t yet managed to deal with the most critical bottleneck – funding.

The latest round of solutions under consideration, including the paper commissioned by the Council of Mayors, offers suggestions such as levies on tourists or property owners. But the State Government still insists it “remains committed to no new taxes or charges.”

They’ve also suggested river clean-up and catchment works might be included under a ‘City Deals’ infrastructure funding arrangement with the Federal Government. In fact, virtually every proposal boils down to us going cap in hand to Canberra.

What’s the good of that? Before the Federal election, Malcolm Turnbull promised a $760,000 allocation for a Green Army river clean-up. Then, in the budget update, he promptly dumped the Green Army altogether, to save $225m from his bottom line.

Before applying new levies, can’t we at least police existing laws to crack down on sediment run-off and packaging pollution? Fix the small stuff first, then move on to initiatives like a major native planting and revegetation scheme upstream to combat erosion.

We need our politicians to stop talking and start doing. Too many levels of government, authorities and interest groups are involved – a classic case of ‘all talk and no walk’.

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Talk About a Load of Rubbish!