If this was happening in Canberra, it wouldn’t be up for debate.

Declaring the Lower Darling critically endangered only matters if the causes are confronted. One of the most damaging is also the most obvious — carp.

They have reshaped riverbeds, degraded water quality, driven algal outbreaks and crowded native species out of the system. This has been unfolding for decades, in plain sight.

Yet the response stops at listing and paperwork.

River health cannot be restored while the largest ecological pressure in the system is left untouched. Communities downstream live with the consequences every day — poorer water, collapsing ecosystems, and long-term damage that no flow target can fix.

The crisis is real, and the response has to match it.

Ignoring the cause while naming the outcome solves nothing.