Who runs our rivers?

Australia's river health is measured against the Ramsar Convention — a treaty signed in Iran in 1975. That means the criteria we use to judge whether our rivers are healthy come from a deal made in an authoritarian regime over fifty years ago.

Meanwhile, carp have destroyed our waterways. Fish kills keep happening. Towns along the Murray are watching their rivers die in real time. But instead of dealing with the actual problems invasive species and water mismanagement — we pour $13 billion into a Basin Plan built around international criteria that have nothing to do with what's killing our rivers.

Ninety per cent of Murray-Darling Basin wetlands have vanished since we signed that treaty. The Lower Murray was listed as critically endangered in January. Golden perch recruitment in the Darling-Warrego hit zero last year.

Iranian treaty criteria did not save a single fish.

Australian rivers should be ran by Australians, for Australians. Not by bureaucrats ticking boxes against a fifty-year-old international agreement while our communities fall apart.

Momentum is building. If you want a future for rural NSW, go to https://standupforwater.lovable.app — sign the petition or get your organisation involved.