Photos from the Australian Water Network Launch

Here are some photos I took last Thursday, in Sydney at the AWN Launch event.
Here is the group photo, taken towards the end of the day. Some people had left previously to attend other meetings, or to catch flights back home, and several were also taking photos.
The day started with a very brief introduction by Bernard Eddy about the purpose of the gathering. He then immediately called upon Patrice Newell to offer an acknowledgment of the Traditional Owners. Bernie than introduced Maude Barlow to speak.

Here is a photo of Maude Barlow, Senior Adviser on Water to the President of the United Nations General Assembly, and International Patron of the Australian Water Network, during her speech to officially launch the Australian Water Network.Cate Faehrmann, from the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, listens intently during Maude's speech. The NCC were co-hosts of the Launch event, and Bernard Eddy as Co-convenor of the AWN, had already thanks the NCC for their assistance in bringing this event to fruition.Maria Reidl from Mildura, in the heart of the Murray Darling system, is a strong supporter of the "Plug the Pipe" campaign. Here she is taking notes as Maude speaks. Maria is famous for her appearance at rallies as a kind of human billboard. Good on her!Dr Diane Bell, Anthropologist and water campaigner from the Murray Darling Lower Lakes, making a point, during the launch. Liz is looking on, while Bernie makes a few notes. Brigid Walsh, from Greenfaith Australia, based in Victoria, shows a wry look,as she obviously appreciates some of the points made by Maude in her speech.Liz McAloon of the Victorian Women's Trust, enjoys a joke during Maude's spech.
Maria Reidl, with Prof. Gavan McDonell, and Stephen Cannon, President of Watershed Victoria.
Liz McAloon also addressed the AWN "Foundation Members". Liz was a member of the Watermark Australia team, and she helped co-ordinate the community consultation program which was integral to the success of that Program. So, people were keen to listen to Liz's advice on how to establish a successful network.I offered my "two-bob's worth" along the lines of:

• "From our experience with the Save Water Alliance, we were all getting so lonely, working by ourselves, thinking "no-one else knows what's going on". Now we know there are many such groups across Australia, so lets all work together.
  
• "Continue to act locally, as your own local group, but know that you have the support of a network of like-minded people around Australia".

Here is Judy Reizes (Community Projects Officer, Manly Environment Centre), gesticulating as she explains the finer points of Sydney's massively wasteful sewage disposal system.
Maude was presented with a commemorative T-shirt produced by the daughter of Dr Wayne Chamley, from the VWT and a member of the Watermark Australia team.The T-shirt carries an image adapted from the "Tin Tin" series of cartoons, showing Tin Tin and his dog, in an out-of-control canoe, heading towards a dangerous waterfall. The sign on the rock says: "Wong way, go back".

After the formal speeches, we were able to mix and share ideas about how exactly we wish the AWN to operate. We got to know eachother informally.

Maude Barlow with John Caldecott,
President of the Friends of Gulf St. Vincent (in South Australia).Here are Judy Reizes, Olivia Isherwood, and Liz sharing the moment.

Later in the day, those who did not have other appointments, or planes to catch back home adjourned to Kim and Peter's home, to continue the discussions.

Bernie, with Brigid Walsh, and Peter Martin (our host).Mary Crooks, Executive Director of the VWT, with Maude, her husband Andrew, and Liz McAloon (also from VWT).Caroline Graham from Rivers SOS, and Shelini Harris, from Greenfaith Australia, discuss the day's events, afterwards.

Professor Rosemary Lister, with Dr Wayne Chamley (seen from behind), with noted author John Archer.Bernard in reflective mood, after the Launch.

Editorial note: My computer crashed yesterday (Wednesday), and I had to rush off to a meeting last night. I have now posted more photos (on Thursday). Hope this has not been too confusing.

The Australian Water Network has been launched

Today 48 Water Warriors (count them, folks) turned up in Sydney, to found the Australian Water Network.

People came from:

• Queensland (Mary River);
  
• the ACT;
  
• NSW(Rivers SOS members, Blue Mountains, Mudgee, Upper Hunter, Wyong Valley and Caroona) and the Inland Rivers Network, and the Manly Environment Centre;
  
• Victoria (there were some Murray Darling people ("Poor Darlings" we like call them - in the nicest possible way!), some "Plug the Pipe"-rs, some Desal opponents, and some Green Faith Australia environmental campaigners. Special thanks must go to Mary Crook, Liz McAloon and Dr Wayne Chamley from the Victorian Women's Trust for their expert advice and guidance;
  
• and several South Australians.
  
• We also had a number of heavy hitting Academics, notably Pat Troy from the ANU and Professor Emerita Diane Bell.
  

As organisers of today's event, Bernard Eddy and I would like to thank the Nature Conservation Council of NSW for their support for this event, and to make specific mention of Kim and Peter Martin, without whose enthusiasm, trust and logistical support, today's event could not have happened and also Dorothy Baker to whom we are greatly indebted (for patience, support and understanding). Also the help of volunteers, on the day, is much appreciated.

People came to hear Maude Barlow speak about water governance in Australia, and the abuse of policy, and Governments' (plural) obsession with expensive and inefficient high-tech solutions which will in the long term not solve the nation's water problems.

Maude at the Lal Lal Falls, on the Moorabool River, Victoria, near Ballarat.

Then we took a little break and got to know eachother better. People enthusiastically swapped their own horror stories of Government neglect and abuse of water issues.

We decided we need to do something about it, and this is the start of it.

PRESS RELEASE : 2 April 2009-04-02

The Australian Water Network was launched today.

The Australian Water Network will link activists, academics and community groups from all over Australia who are working in their local communities and states on the water crisis facing this country.

The Network will expose and challenge Government water policies which are failing to serve the common good; and promote ideas and strategies more likely to secure a sustainable water future.

"This is an historic day for Australia" said Maude Barlow, Senior Advisor on Water to the President of the UN General Assembly. "Consecutive governments, both Federal and State, have yet to recognise and respond to the Australian water crisis with a cohesive plan. They rely on the false gods of private markets and energy guzzling technologies as the crisis deepens into a national emergency."

The Australian Water Network will fight for the public control of water.

We will do all in our power to ensure water-flows for threatened ecosystems. This new voice in Australia will turn the tide on the water crisis.

It has been raining in Robertson

It has been raining in Robertson since Monday. We had 10 mm on Monday, 40 mm by Tuesday morning and it was pissing down (a technical term in Robertson for heavy rain) when I left Robbo this afternoon. It is so good to see, as the local creeks have been bone dry, recently.

I am now in Sydney for the launch tomorrow of the Australian Water Network by Maude Barlow. This will be a private event for prospective members only, at this stage. But we hope that a number of friends will gather with us, to "launch the good ship AWN".

Maude will be with us tomorrow, as our international Patron, seeing as she is national chairperson of The Council of Canadians and founder of the Blue Planet Project. She has been appointed the first UN Senior Advisor on water issues by Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, President of the 63rd session of the United Nations.

Meeting with Maude Barlow

Caroline Graham of the Rivers SOS group organised a meeting with visiting Canadian writer and political activist, Maude Barlow. Maude has recently received considerable publicity in Australia through several interviews on Radio National.

Maude Barlow, listening intently

If I were to tell you that the sub-title of her book "Blue Gold" is "The battle against corporate theft of the world's water" you will get an idea of where Maude is coming from, when discussing water politics.

Maude making a point, to an attentive audience.
Maude, Caroline, Kim and Julie.

She is the Chairperson of the "Council of Canadians" . The Council of Canadians is a citizens' organization that advocates for progressive policies on behalf of its members across the country. The Council concentrates its advocacy around the core issues of fair trade, public health care and the right to water. Speaking with Maude, it is apparent that the swamping of Canadian Governmental issues by the USA, especially when it came to "free trade" issues (i.e., the realisation that Free Trade really means reduction of obstacles to American corporations doing what they want). Maude even apologised to us, as Australians, that the deplorable anti-Australian "Australia-US Free Trade Agreement" is based upon a model which was first accepted by the Canadian Government of the time. This legislation was introduced by the Howard Government, negotiated by Mark Vaile. It is a disgraceful document which weakens Australia's sovereignty in trade issues. The relevant Canadian/USA/Mexico Agreement is now known as NAFTA.

Caroline, Julie, Dianne and Maude (in foreground)

I first heard about Maude Barlow, following a Radio National interview some months ago. A recent interview with Maude Barlow, on 16 June 2008 may be accessed here. Various transcripts of ABC interviews with her, over many years, may be found at this linked Search of ABC Radio National's website

She has been touring Australia promoting her latest book Blue Covenant.

My friend in Melbourne, Miss Eagle, a fellow blogger, went to hear Maude speak last week, at the Melbourne Writers' Festival. She was so excited that she immediately emailed me, telling me about Maude.

Fortunately, Caroline had already organised for our groups to attend a talk Maude was to give at the Ashfield Library, in Sydney, and then for us to have private meeting with Maude in the hotel where she was staying. All this came to pass last Thursday, I am pleased to say.

Caroline Graham, Julie Sheppard and Alan and Dianne Page of the Rivers SOS group, and Bev Smiles, a coal and water campaigner from the Goulburn River (Hunter Valley) and Mudgee area and Kim Martin, and Bernard Eddy and myself (all from the Save Water Alliance) met with Maude in Sydney privately after the Ashfield Library lecture. We discussed a series of interesting possibilities about future co-operative water conservation campaigning in Australia.

Myself, Bev, Kim, Bernie, Maude, Caroline, Julie and Alan

Alan and Dianne Page of RiversSOS, with Maude Barlow