How climate change and regional water made the environment a NSW election issue

Updated

Mick Whitbread has lived in Bourke his entire life, but worries he will be in the last generation to do that.

The town in far-west NSW, population 2,500, is drying and dying.

It has not seen meaningful rain in seven years and his family lives off bottled water when they can afford it.

The environment has emerged as a major concern for NSW voters, who are preparing to head to the polls on March 23.

Labor polling has consistently had it among the top three issues for voters this campaign.

Liberal numbers indicate climate change is of major concern too, particularly in inner-Sydney.

In regional areas — which have been gripped by a crippling drought — the focus is on water.

Bourke is on the cusp of entering stage five restrictions for the first time. That means no washing cars or watering lawns.

Only one bucket of unfiltered — or "raw" — water can be used per day on gardens.

The Whitbreads do their bit — their three young children shower together — but it's a short-term solution and Mick says "people are going to pack up and move".

Picturing the town where their children will grow up is hard.

"It is worrying, whether or not there is going to be a future in Bourke for them," Mr Whitbread says.

"Is the town going to survive?"

Stage five water restrictions will be enforced when water levels in the Bourke Weir dip below 2 metres.

Yesterday, they were at 2.06m.

'We're in dire straits'

Climate change and environment policy has traditionally been seen as a federal issue, but the major state parties have been keen to show voters they are going green.

Nowhere is that truer than the marginal electorate of Coogee, in Sydney's eastern suburbs, where both Labor and Liberal polling has climate change as the number-one issue for constituents.

On Wednesday night, concerned voters filed into the Randwick Community Centre for the Coogee and Vaucluse Election Forum on Environmental Issues.

Among those being grilled was Coogee's Labor candidate Marjorie O'Neill, who fended off a question from a man wearing a "Stop Adani" T-shirt about the number of coal mine approvals in NSW.

"I think the biggest challenge we have in NSW is what is the fastest pace that we can transition to renewables without destroying people's livelihoods and jobs," she said.

In NSW, the Coalition has set a target of zero net emissions by 2050 while Labor wants 50 per cent of the state's electricity to come from renewables by 2030, moving to 100 per cent by 2050.

The event was hosted by the National Parks Association of NSW, Nature Conservation Council of NSW and Keep Sydney Beautiful.

Sitting Liberal MP Bruce Notley-Smith, who holds Coogee on a 2.9 per cent margin, did not attend.

In one way, the forum in Sydney's affluent east seems a long way from Bourke.

But the town's lack of water has brought environmental issues to the fore.

Matters of State NSW's broken water system

Residents of Bourke, in north-west New South Wales, are living under the worst water restrictions the town has ever faced. What's it like fearing to turn the tap on? And when will it end? More episodes



Residents of Bourke, in north-west New South Wales, are living under the worst water restrictions the town has ever faced. What's it like fearing to turn the tap on? And when will it end?

In January, Bourke's average maximum temperature was more than 42 degrees Celsius, and few know the heat better than Mayor Barry Hollman — a self-declared climate change sceptic.

He has lived there for more than 70 years, but he's never seen a drought this bad.

"We're in dire straits now, I mean we're really doing it tough," he says.

The Council of the Shire of Bourke is sinking a second bore about 400 metres below the town's dusty streets into the Great Artesian Basin.

It's a last resort.

"At least that will sustain us through the drought but that's all it will do," Mayor Hollman says.

"Meanwhile our river will gradually shrink and shrink and there will be nothing left of it."

'This river means everything to us'

Regional communities have long lobbied for better water policy, but their concerns went mainstream earlier this year when images of mass fish kills near Menindee surfaced.

The deaths have sparked widespread anger at lawmakers, particularly in the vast electorate of Barwon, which covers 44 per cent of the state.

Bourke, Menindee and much of the Murray-Darling Basin is in the seat, which — despite the Nationals holding it on a 12.9 per cent margin — is considered "in play" this election.

Many people in that area blame the deaths on mismanagement by the NSW Government, and Murray-Darling Basin Authority.

NSW Regional Water Minister Niall Blair has consistently maintained that while water management mistakes have been made, the only thing that will stop mass fish kills is rain.

Cotton farmers are often a target, but Mayor Hollman believes playing a blame game over water allocations will not benefit people in his constituency and that most irrigators take only what they have been allocated.

Bourke Indigenous leader Alistair Ferguson said the Darling River was an important part of his peoples' culture.

Mr Ferguson says the drying river had been in the "DNA" of Bourke's Aboriginal community for generations.

"This river means everything to us, and we belong to the river as well."

"It's so important that we can't live without it and that's why we are still here."

Mr Ferguson blames "bad decisions" for damaging the local environment.

"I think the difficulty has been remaining optimistic about the future, especially for small communities like Bourke," he says.

Back at the Whitbread residence, Mick hopes he will, one day be able to teach his children the joys of fishing in a healthy Darling River.

"I'm a Bourke boy born and bred, three weeks is the longest I've been out of Bourke," he said.

"If we had to pack up and move I don't know what I'd do because Bourke has got everything for me ... but people won't be able to live without water."

Topics: state-elections, elections, government-and-politics, nsw, bourke-2840, coogee-2034, menindee-2879

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