Government’s fake image: Portrays bleak Murray Darling Basin outlook

It took Tanya Plibersek's water bureaucrats four months before finally admitting a bleak image in their $12 million Murray Darling Basin advertising campaign was a fake.

It took Federal Water Minister Tanya Plibersek's water bureaucrats four months before finally admitting this bleak image in their $12 million Murray Darling Basin advertising campaign was a fake.

Federal Water Minister Tanya Plibersek’s bureaucrats have finally admitted using fake computer-generated images of dead fish and trees, as part of an advertising campaign portraying the government as saviours of the Murray Darling Basin.

Ms Plibersek’s department initially refused to answer questions from The Weekly Times in March on where the images used in the $12 million television campaign were taken in the basin, simply stating it had nothing to say on the matter.

But during a grilling at Senate Estimates by Opposition Water spokeswoman Perin Davey last Friday, one of Ms Plibersek’s top Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water bureaucrats admitted the bleak image of the basin was computer generated.

DCCEEW’s head of communications and media said Anita Agett said there was “one image where CGI (computer generated imagery) was used to show a potential future scenario”.

DCCEEW secretary David Fredericks defended the use of the CGI as an “honest attempt” to illustrate what a dry Basin might look like.

But Mr Fredericks also admitted there were no real images available that matched this scenario, prompting the use of CGI.

Senator Davey pointed out the historical inaccuracies in the campaign’s portrayal saying: “The Murray River did not run dry even during the millennium drought.”

The Department had previously admitted to using photographs that did not come from the Basin in its campaign, including that of an orange orchard in Turkey.

Griffith Citrus Grower and co-founder of Redbelly Citrus, Vito Mancini said it was evidence the department did not respect food producers in the Basin.

“Our region is one of the most photogenic citrus regions in the world and for the department to take an image from Turkey when they could just come to Griffith and get better shots is bitterly disappointing” Mr Mancini said.

Senator Davey urged the Government to invest in meaningful solutions for the Basin.

“Instead of spending $12 million on an exaggerated ad campaign, we should be addressing critical issues like fish passage and riparian health,” she said.