Water Watch Radio

This week we’re excited to share a special interview we published last year. For our Summer Series this week we'll be hearing from one of the country’s most renowned First Nations artists and water activists. Born on the banks of the Baaka river in 1947, Uncle Badger Bates is a proud Barkindji man and an inspiration to both artists and water activists alike. He’s been a strong vo...

This week in our Summer Series we are playing Part 2 from our Wilcannia Weir story which covers a little-known story of bureaucratic failure and government shenanigans in the small town of Wilcannia on the Darling-Baaka River where a weir project has been on the cards for over 40 years. This series was short-listed for a Walkley award last year in the category of long-form audio journalism, and al...

Over the next two weeks we are playing one our favourite multi-episode series from last year, the Wilcannia Weir story. This program covers a little-known story of bureaucratic failure and government shenanigans in the small town of Wilcannia on the Darling-Baaka River where a weir project has been on the cards for over 40 years. This series was short-listed for a Walkley award last year in the ca...

This week we’re listening back exploring on the music and stories of The Stiff Gins with one half of the Musical Duo Kaleena Briggs. Kaleena and her musical partner Nardi Simpson are fresh water women, whose ancestry, identity, connection to country sings through into their music.  They’ve been releasing music as the Stiff gins for 25 years, releasing 3 acclaimed albums and tourin...

This week we’re heading to the Top End, to listen back on conversation with Kirsty Howey the director of the Environment Centre Northern Territory about  mismanagement of an expanding irrigation industry that was exposed in and ABC 4 Corners program “Water Grab.”  Following the 4 Corners program, a delegation of environmental groups was joined by Mangarrayi Traditional...

As the new year rolls in, this week we listen back on a conversation with Amy Dula, the chair of the NSW Connectivity Expert Panel, which handed down its final report in July 2024. The NSW Water Minister Rose Jackson established the Panel in response to a recommendation from the NSW Chief Scientists independent review of the 2023 Menindee Mass Fish Kills.  Watch Watch is produced by Broken Hi...

This week listen back on a wholesome conversation between Dan and Menindee bird water Geoff Looney from a live event to launch his new book "Birds of the Menindee Lakes Area, compiled by Geoff Looney"  Geoff has been photographing and bird watching in and around Menindee for 30 years and his new book is the best guide for birders to find and identify any of the 207 bird species that Geoff has...

This week we listen back on a spacial interview with two incredible musicians and water activists Nancy Bates and Aimee Volkovksy who have collaborated on a beautiful new song Blood Red Moon.  Barkiindji/Wilyakali song writer Nancy Bates is a highly accomplished musician who has toured internationally and spent three years on the road with Uncle Archie Roach as a backing vocalist, guitarist a...

Water Watch kicks off our summer break with our favourite programs of 2024! This week we travel back to March 2024, against the back drop of small, distributed fish deaths and terrible water quality that hung around for 12 months following the 2023 mass fish deaths, we talk inflows with long term water advocate from Sunset Strip at Lake Menindee, Ross Leddra and revisit statements on the recommend...

Australia's water market is heralded as the best in the world, but it’s often a sore point for people who work the land, driving up costs and uncertainty when water is scarce.  It’s the invisible hand, designed to move our precious blue gold, it’s highest and most productive use.  But decades on from the market reform, who's interests is the market working in.  This week on water water we hear fro...

This week we’re excited to share a special interview we’ve been working on for a while with one of the country’s renowned artists and water activists. Born on the banks of the Baaka river in 1947, Uncle Badger Bates is a proud Barkindji man and an inspiration to both artists and water activists alike. He’s been a strong voice for Barkindji people, fighting for their land and water rights, and he’s...

This week we’re excited to share a special interview we’ve been working on for a while with one of the country’s renowned artists and water activists. Born on the banks of the Baaka river in 1947, Uncle Badger Bates is a proud Barkindji man and an inspiration to both artists and water activists alike. He’s been a strong voice for Barkindji people, fighting for their land and water rights, and he’s...

This week we are traversing from the depths of the world's oceans to the mud and silt of freshwater rivers and lakes, ponds, dams and backwaters of the world. This episode we're talking about the extraordinary lives of eels.  Few people know about the vast journey that every eel makes from the bottom of the world's oceans to freshwater rivers and creeks and back again during their life cycle. Eels...

This week we are traversing from the depths of the world's oceans to the mud and silt of freshwater rivers and lakes, ponds, dams and backwaters of the world. This episode we're talking about the extraordinary lives of eels.  Few people know about the vast journey that every eel makes from the bottom of the world's oceans to freshwater rivers and creeks and back again during their life cycle. Eels...

This week, we’re heading back to the mid Murray River, where a small community group has been caring for their local forest for decades.  Friends of Nyah Vinifera Park are embarking upon a legal challenge in the Federal Court over the Federal Government's decision to approve the Nyah SDLAM or “floodplain restoration” project. Friends of Nyah Vinifera Park believe the process for assessing the envi...

This week, we're taking you back to the Northern Territory with an interview with one of the Traditional Owners who made the 4,000 KM trek from Darwin to Canberra in September. The delegation of Traditional Owners and environmentalists went to the capital to call on the Federal government to step in and halt the agricultural projects that threaten water-dependent ecosystems.  In this episode we sp...

Today you’re going to hear from a well read, and well written academic on water issues. Professor Quentin Grafton recently published a book, and the launch of the book was accompanied with an address to the National Press Club and an article in the Conversation. The description of the book proclaims:    It’s high time to call out the mistruths and post truths and retell Australia’s Water story, In...

This week Water Watch looks back to a presentation by Dr Josie Douglas, the General Manager of the Central Land Council speaking at the Fresh Water Futures Panel at the Environment Centre NT State of Environment Conference in September 2023.  With thanks to the PEW Charitable Trust for accessing conference audio and organising the Fresh Water Futures Panel. Watch Watch is produced by Broken Hill C...

This week we have a bit of arts and culture respite, but that's not to say its not going to get political! It was our great privilege this week to interview an artist we've been following for a very long time, Murrawarri, Philipino rapper and drummer, Rhyan Claphem, who calls himself DOBBY. DOBBY has just released his debut album Warrangu, river story and it is all about the great beauty and trage...

With things heating up in the Murray-Darling Basin regarding the Basin Plan, we’re continuing to cover Basin politics with a fascinating interview with Richard Beasley who was Senior Counsel assisting to the South Australian Royal Commission into the Murray-Darling Basin Back in 2018. In a thorough investigation in 2018, the Royal Commission found that the Basin Plan was illegal, not just on the b...

This week we are delving into a topic that we haven’t yet covered on water watch, but it has been in the media recently and there is growing awareness of its significance. In this episode we are talking about the chemicals commonly known as PFAS or ‘forever chemicals.’ PFAS are a class of almost 15,000 synthetic chemicals which are harmful to human and animal health, causing an array of serious il...

This week we’re heading to the Top End, where mismanagement of an expanding irrigation industry in the NT hit the national spotlight when ABC 4 Corner published “Water Grab” last month. The ABC 4 Corners program revealed the NT’s lax environmental laws, and failures to adequately regulate a burgeoning irrigation industry in the NT. The program exposed a territory government that is single-mindedly...

This week on the program we’re exploring the music and stories of Stiff Gins with one half of the Musical Duo Kaleena Briggs. Kaleena and her musical partner Nardi Simpson are freshwater women, whose ancestry, identity, connection to country sings through into their music.  They’ve been releasing music as the Stiff gins for 25 years, releasing 3 acclaimed albums and touring all over Australia and...

  This week on the program we’re exploring the music and stories of Stiff Gins with one half of the Musical Duo Kaleena Briggs. Kaleena and her musical partner Nardi Simpson are fresh water women, whose ancestry, identity, connection to country sings through into their music.  They’ve been releasing music as the Stiff gins for 25 years, releasing 3 acclaimed albums and touring all over australia a...

This week on water watch we are travelling south in the Murray Darling Basin to a special little spot on the Murray. Nyah Vinifera is a beautiful red gum and black box forest nestled on the Victorian side of the Murray River near swan hill, where the red sands of the Mallee descend into mud of the mighty Murray. As a Murray floodplain recognised for its ecological and cultural significance, Nyah a...