A new grassroots group, Water for Rivers, has been set up in Newcastle with the aim of raising awareness about the causes of about the dire situation in the Murray Darling Basin and helping to bring life back to the rivers.
The group follows in the steps of Water for Rivers in Sydney and comes on the back of the Yaama Ngunna Baaka Corroborree Bus Tour, which visited the towns in far-western New South Wales to give solidarity to these forgotten river communities in late September and early October.
Local Aboriginal elder Maree Edwards gave a Welcome to Country to open the November 17 meeting which featured reportbacks from the bus tour by Tracey Keogh and Malissa Mallantine.
Former Greens Bathurst councillor Tracy Carpenter spoke of the privatisation of the water in the Baaka (Darling) and Murray rivers and its disastrous consequences.
Bus tour participant and Socialist Alliance activist Coral Wynter discussed how the Newcastle group could contribute to the battle to save communities in regional NSW that have been completely neglected by the Liberals and National Party.