HELEN Dalton knew this wouldn’t be easy.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
When it comes to the NSW water crisis, there was never going to be a simple solution.
But as Shooters, Fishers and Farmers (SFF) candidate for Murray, she’s going to take a good crack at campaigning for change.
Because Helen fears regret far more than she fears failure.
“I’d rather have a go and fail than sit back when I’m old and think I should have had a go,’’ she said.
Born and bred in Rankins Springs, NSW, on a dry area farm, Helen knew the value of water from day one.
With a teaching background and a diploma of horticulture and advanced diploma of agriculture under her belt, Helen is now an owner and operator of a farm she runs with her husband near Griffith.
In 2006 she was awarded a Nuffield Farming Scholarship which gave her the opportunity to study overseas and for many years she sat at representative tables speaking for local communities.
Working in the water space for more than 10 years, Helen soon became concerned with the state of water management.
And, five weeks out from the 2015 NSW election, decided to run as an independent for the state seat of Murray.
“Our sitting member at the time (Adrian Piccoli) had something like an 80 per cent majority and had for years and was gaining more of a majority because there were no decent candidates,” Helen said.
“So I thought I’d have a go. And I gained about 19 per cent of the primary vote in five weeks.”
At the 2017 Murray state by-election, Helen had another crack, this time as a candidate for SFF.
And came within three per cent of stealing the seat from the Nationals for the first time in 33 years.
“I was winning. But then the Las Vegas massacre happened and the Nationals brought that up on TV and said I was going to change the gun laws into US style gun laws – and people swallowed it,” she said.
“I was beaten by a whisker. It’s a dirty business.”
Now, Helen is back for round three.
And with the water crisis in dire straits, she’s come armed with a five-step plan.
First – an audit of water filtration processes and lake management strategies needs to be conducted immediately for all councils across NSW.
“More and more councils are issuing alerts this past month. More and more lakes are unable to be accessed for recreation,” she said.
“We need an immediate, independent audit of all councils and the state government on water treatment, management, strategies and policies... and prepare a best practice guide.”
With at least 20 state and federal agencies currently regulating water across NSW, Helen said it was crucial unnecessary water bureaucracies be abolished.
“Despite this (number of agencies), corruption, water pollution and water management are a disgrace. It’s clear too many cooks are spoiling the broth and totally muddying the waters,” she said.
“These departments don’t talk to each other and often issue contradictory advice. Farmers and regional communities are totally confused, frustrated and angry.
“State water holders – NSW, SA, Victoria, QLD and ACT – actually trade or ‘swap out’ environmental water to fund their administration. This is like a child protection agency funding their existence by selling child pornography.”
Thirdly, Helen said water bureaucrats should be based in communities like Broken Hill and Griffith to draw policy decision-making away from the cities.
And she argued the NSW Government should provide free bottled water in case of council water alerts.
“If the NSW Government can spend $2 billion on a desalination plant in Sydney that they’ve never actually used, they can afford to kick in a few million to help regional towns who are very concerned about their tap water,” she said.
Finally, Helen is pushing the Murray-Darling Basin Authority to publish data summaries on Murray Darling water use every six months.
And to start using plain English.
“The tragic million fish kill led to an enormous, emotional fake news campaign from all sides on who was to blame,” she said.
“Sadly, water data transparency is as murky as the Darling River itself. The MDBA need to start communicating in clear, comprehensible English because complex, ‘bureaucratic speak’ is an excellent strategy to avoid being held to account.”