Henry Jones widow tells Labor to ‘be brave’ because our Murray is still dying

If you thought last year’s flood disaster saved the River Murray for us, think again. New threats lurk upstream.

It’s been nearly 10 years since Henry Jones died, but his wife Gloria knows what he would say today if he had the chance.

It’s time, the Clayton Bay fisherman would say. It’s time for governments to act to guarantee the future of the River Murray.

Because more than 10 years after the federal government signed a historic deal to reduce the amount of water removed from Australia’s greatest river, doubts remain over when, and even if, those promises will be delivered.

“In the 10 years since it was promised, the Murray Darling Basin Plan has not been delivered,” Gloria Jones says.

“That’s really sad, and I think Henry would be sad about it. Henry would ask (Water Minister) Tanya Plibersek to be brave, to buy back the necessary water from willing sellers sooner, rather than later.

“It becomes harder and harder and gets more expensive as the years get drier, so let’s do it now.”

Gloria Jones, wife of the late River Murray campaigner Henry Jones, with his fishing boat in the background in Clayton Bay. Picture Matt Turner.

Gloria Jones and her daughter Julie will be part of a delegation travelling to Canberra on Tuesday to replicate a 2012 event, spearheaded by The Advertiser, during which Henry Jones cooked Coorong mullet for MPs to illustrate the importance of reducing the amount of water removed from the Murray.

Henry Jones’ emotional plea for national reform to save the ailing system on the lawns of Parliament House was so powerful it was credited by politicians of all persuasions as a game changer in the decades-long fight for River Murray reform.

Mr Jones was diagnosed with cancer a few months after the Murray Darling Basin Plan was signed in 2012 and died in April, 2014. He was 72.

The plan was supposed to return 3200GL to the river but experts agree that target is unlikely to be reached and Ms Plibersek has conceded it is now impossible to achieve the legislated targets by the original deadline of June next year.

Delivering the savings was an ALP federal election promise but legislation, that currently sits in the Upper House, that increases voluntary buybacks has come under fire from upstream communities.

So the Jones family will be among members of a Conservation Council-led delegation to Canberra on Tuesday that will lobby politicians to back the buybacks and commit to water savings, in particular to the final 450GL that was crucial to SA agreeing with the original plan.

Fourth generation fisherman Henry Jones stands on the shore of Lake Alexandrina in 2013.

Mrs Jones said history had shown that it was often only a few years between flood and drought and last year’s floods meant it was the perfect time to implement water buybacks.

“I don’t think we need any more science done, we’ve had an enormous amount of science done to achieve the original plan,” she said.

“Everyone knows what needs to be done. We need to buy back the 450GL from willing sellers, of which there appears to be quite a few at the moment.

“But now’s the time to do it, because if you leave it too much longer, you get into drought conditions again, and then no-one wants to trade water.”

Mrs Jones, whose grandson Justin is a sixth generation commercial fisher at the Murray Mouth, said buying back water licences from upstream would not have the negative impact claimed by some upstream communities.

“But it’s not really about what I think, it’s just about what is best for the system, for the basin itself,” she said.

“If you’ve got a healthy basin and a healthy environment, you are going to have a sustainable community.”

Mrs Jones said some wildlife such as turtles, water rats and birds had returned to the Lower Lakes and Murray mouth since the millennium drought of the early 2000s but some animals, such as mussels and leeches, had never bounced back.

Australian politicians participating including then prime minister Julia Gillard with Henry Jones on the lawns of Parliament House in Canberra in 2012.

Mrs Jones and her daughter Julie, who chairs the River Lakes and Coorong Action Group, will cook Coorong mullet for parliamentarians on Tuesday as the delegation presents petitions signed by more than 10,000 people urging the government to return water to the river as soon as possible.

Conservation Council SA chief executive Craig Wilkins said a series of toxic algal blooms and blackwater events at the lower end of the Darling River in the past few months were “clear signs” the system was still in trouble.

“We’re very, very nervous that troubled times will hit the great southern lakes and Coorong again,” he said.

“We’ve obviously had pretty ideal conditions for the river for the last few years but we know that will end with El Nino emerging.

“Before the next federal election we will potentially have two very, very harsh summers with higher evaporation, reduced rainfall and temperatures will be on the rise.

“So it (the health of the River Murray) will definitely come back in front and centre of people’s minds but the critical time is now to reset the system and reset the rules to give the river a chance.

“We can’t afford to wait another two or three years to do that reset.”