Mr McCurdy is also quoted as asking how it is possible to be ignored. Simple: Mr McCurdy is, like Bill Tilley, either seemingly unwilling or does not want to stridently advocate the issue. As such, the V/Line issue will only fester and continue as a regular occurrence. 

It seems to me, observing Mr McCurdy’s Hansard records, the best he does is simply “urge something to be done”. Quite frankly, nothing will be unless Mr McCurdy takes a more strident but diplomatic stand. In regards to Mr Tilley, he seems to only come out if he is under pressure from the local rank-and-file of the Liberal Party, or just simply keep his name in the press, despite more than his fair share of opportunities to do good on his previous rhetoric.

Our society is facing unprecedented challenges due to new scientific discoveries, technology racing ahead of many of us, advances in medicine and a longer life span for most of the population.

Framing legislation in the new era is not easy and while we always need to refer to history, we cannot rely on old texts which were written in an ancient time for a different culture, by people who believed the Earth was flat.

The Australian Constitution is also under strain because it was written by a few white land-owning men at a time when Indigenous people were not considered as citizens and the Marriage Act, acquired from England by Governor Macquarie, legislated that the wife and children were the goods and chattels of the husband.

Legislation before Parliament must reflect the needs of all citizens in a multi-racial and  multi-faith society, in light of today’s knowledge, technological capabilities as well as respect for the environment and not be highjacked by those who unrealistically wish to cling to the past.

The Murray Group would like to respond to recent public comments from Murray-Darling Basin Authority chief executive Phillip Glyde.

Firstly, we would like to make one very loud, clear point that has been emphasised many times this year – the local organisations which comprise the Murray Group are keen to work collaboratively with the MDBA on local solutions that can provide environmental and productive outcomes. Unfortunately we are having great difficulty getting the MDBA to ‘come to the table’ and meet for constructive, open discussion.

Our frustrations are exacerbated when we have recent flood events which we believe did not need to be as severe, horrific fish kills from blackwater events that also could have been less severe, and the pedalling of incorrect information from the MDBA as it tries to ‘defend the indefensible’.

In particular Mr Glyde said  “decisions (on the Basin Plan) have always included social and economic factors”. The fact is, no comprehensive social and economic study has been undertaken in our NSW Murray region despite strong evidence of significant social and economic damage under the Basin Plan.

Surely no one can genuinely believe that the large volume of water returned to the environment from our region under the Basin Plan has not had a significant economic and social impact in our region.

There are numerous other issues the Murray Group would like to discuss with Mr Glyde and trust he will visit the Murray region in the near future, allowing time for positive, productive dialogue to take place.