“Turning Off The Tap”

It never rains, it only pours
When contractors get their money-grubbing paws
On the common wealth of this once-great state
Oh, will the wastage never abate?
Not as long as John Dubbya & Company
Continue to have the outrageous effrontery
To take our taxes and haemorrhage them to
The greedy, never-sated few.

They can spot his type a mile away:
The type happy to pay and pay and pay
And say: “Look here, we’re taking action!”
Till their governments’ finances end up in traction.
And reluctantly, to stop further harm
The poor old voters hand over the farm
To people who impose economic rationalism
With all the subtlety of fascism.

There’s only one way to stop the drip:
Take the captain and crew of this ship
Truss them up with a length of cord
And throw the whole lot overboard.

People are being thrown out of their rented homes to make way for desal workers at hugely inflated rents. Do you know of anyone in this situation?

If so please ask them drop in and speak with a representative of the Tenants Union (confidentially) who will be at the Bass Coast Shire offices on Thursday 18th February (contact the shire on 56712222 or 1300 226278)

The local member of Parliament, Ken Smith, is also looking into this. He can be cotacted at his Wonthaggi office in McBride Ave. (again confidentially) 56724755, ken.smith@parliament.vic.gov.au

Or contact Jessica from Watershed on 0407 307231

Watershed will again be running an education and information stall at the Sustainable Living Festival in Federation Square, February 19th to 21st.

http://festival.slf.org.au/
If you would be able to help out on our stall please contact Jessica on 0407 307231.

PAST EVENT
FRIDAY 22nd January, 7.30pm, Wonthaggi Town Hall.

A GREAT time was had by around 250 people who attended the Watershed fundraiser show, “Bugger the Polar Bears - THIS IS SERIOUS”. As well as being hilariously funny, there was a fair bit of educational content as well.

A great time was had by all at our Christmas Bash

and we raised nearly $1000 to continue the fight for sustainable water policy

After a Busy and Tough Campaigning and Protesting Come and Enjoy

The Fun and Games –

FOR BOOKINGS AND NUMBERS CONTACT

MAGGIE – 0422 07 99 87 RSVP – ASAP p.s. a deposit would be great!

This was a great event, remember to keep
thinking globally and acting locally.

DESAL RELATED EVENT IN WONTHAGGI - Join the world-wide action to halt climate change. Meet others who share our concerns that the planet is being irreversibly depleted by our carbon-heavy footprint. Bring an example to read out of how YOU have changed your life to reduce your impact.

Spread the word - only by local climate change action can we get change happening !

We have now had a response of sorts from Westpac and NAB. As expected, they have not addressed many of our concerns, and they have relied on the State Government’s poorly scoped and inadequate EES. Stay tuned for more on this!

Gross negligence in funding the desal plant against their own ‘Equator Principles’. Looks like we may need to organise small groups, 2 or 3 people in your suburb, to let the public know in front of Westpac and NAB branches. Watershed can supply leaflet material (by post or we could make it available off the website for you to print). If you would like to participate, should we need to do this, please leave your details with an email to answers@watershedvictoria.org.au

Past event - Monday 23rd November, 11.00am

Well it’s been nearly three months now and the Banks haven’t given us any indication yet that they are following the corporate responsibility principles that they say they are. To their credit they did send a reasonable delegation of their representatives to meet with Watershed Victoria, but they provided nothing to indicate that they had met their obligations under the ‘Equator Principles’. More than a month later they have still not answered any of the many questions we left them with. Time to start spreading our concerns again, so we leafleted City branches on Monday, starting with the Westpac branch on the corner of Swanston and Collins St. at 11.00am. Join us now by writing to the banks to try to convince the banks that they have to do more if this investment is to come anywhere near being acceptable, both socially and environmentally. Further more diverse leafletting to follow if we don’t get responses soon.

This is the leaflet we handed out -

feel free to copy and distribute.

Click on the image, or here, to get a good copy

of both sides of the leaflet.

Questions, contact:

Stephen 0407 811778 or

Jessica 0407 307231

Results of our Annual General Meeting held on 20th October:

The following nominations were unopposed and duly elected:

President - Stephen Cannon
Vice presidents - Col Truman & Mark Robertson
Secretary - Neil Rankine
Treasurer - Kaye Craddock
Public Officer - Roger Thorrowgood

Contact details for the above if you click on the CONTACT tab above.

We invite further volunteers to the Committee to assist all activities of Watershed in seeking sustainable water solutions for Victorians - use the contact button above if you would like to be involved in a more sustainable future.

Still concerned about a healthy future for our children & their children, about caring for the environment, about sustainable water solutions? We are. We met once again in the Wonthaggi Town Hall where it all began.

Click here for the outcomes of our meeting with bank representatives.

AquaSure’s Community relations consultant arranged a meeting with senior representatives from both banks as requested. We are holding off on this action to see if a meeting will eventuate. Fingers crossed they will listen.

We now have a commitment from the banks to listen to our concerns. More information about the meeting, click here.

Watershed Victoria Still Campaigning on the Desal Disaster

In recent weeks Watershed Victoria and supporters have raised the issue of major financial backing of the desal plant in Wonthaggi by Westpac and the National Australia Bank.
Both banks have signed on to the “Equator Principles”, a comprehensive set of responsibility benchmarks to invest only in projects that have no damaging environmental and social consequences.
In recent weeks we have leafletted Westpac and NAB branches in Melbourne, with good responses from bank customers.

We are asking for an explanation of the banks’ financial involvement and a comprehensive environmental impact study by the banks BEFORE financially backing the energy guzzling desal plant. They are relying on the State Government’s flawed and narrow environmental assessment, a mistake both in terms of local environmental impact and climate change. The banks have also had assurances from AquaSure, the consortium building the plant, which is hardly impartial, that environmental impacts will be minimised.
The banks promised to meet us to discuss our concerns.

On the bright side, we have had many whale sightings on the coast this winter, including a Southern Right mother and calf last week.

Ring NAB Corporate Responsibility Officer on 03-86342734 or Westpac 132032 and ask for the Corporate Responsibility Officer. More details are available under a new ‘BANKS’ tab on our website, and form letters are under the ‘writing letters’ section. http://www.watershedvictoria.org.au/content/category/letterwriting/

We were to meet at 11am on Thursday 1st October at Flinders St Station for more leafletting of Westpac and NAB branches. Our confidence that the banks would agree to meet and listen to our concerns has paid off. The outcomes from this meeting is posted by click above. More info - Neil 0413 902571.

Wednesday 30th September

For Love Of Water.

A Frankston event welcoming Watershed attendance and/or input.

“F L O W” ,  a great documentary that explores questions related to the imminent global water crisis. Is water a human right or a commodity to be traded on the “free market” ?

Maude Barlow and Dr Vandana Shiva put the case for water as a Human Right, and question the future of water privatisation.

http://www.flowthefilm.com/trailer

WHEN ; Wednesday 30th September ; 7.30pm

WHERE :  Uniting Church Hall, 16 High St Frankston (Mel 100A A9)