The federal government is pouring billions of dollars into its
attempts to deal with the worst impacts of a climate crisis it prefers
to ignore. But this money will never achieve its stated aim nor reach
those who need it most.
The federal Coalition government’s Drought Response, Resilience and Preparedness Plan,
released in November last year, sets out its proposal for dealing with
the most severe drought in living memory — one that has been made worse
by the climate crisis.
The government is offering $50 million for an On-farm Emergency Water
Infrastructure Rebate Scheme to improve on-farm water management and
$36.9 million over five years “to improve water security and drought
resilience in the Great Artesian Basin through increasing artesian
pressure and reducing wastage”.
The plan also proposes to spend about $3.5 billion on a national
water infrastructure plan that will take even more water out of river
systems.
Meanwhile, after initially denying the recent East Coast bushfire
catastrophe was anything out of the ordinary, Prime Minister Scott
Morrison has set up a National Bushfire Recovery Agency.
The agency is set to receive $2 billion, which comes on top of the
more than $100 million in disaster recovery payments and allowances that
have already been disbursed.
