Water Justice For Ali Curung Community

These voices come to you directly from the remote community of Ali Curung in the central desert of Australia.

30 km to the east of the community is Singleton Station, where an unprecedented groundwater licence was granted by the NT Government in 2021. If this goes ahead, the water will be given for free to a private company farming food for export.

There is unanimous opposition from Ali Curung community members and Traditional Owners who fear becoming refugees in their own land and want to protect their water for future generations.

This is the first release in a newly launched ...

These voices come to you directly from the remote community of Ali Curung in the central desert of Australia.

30 km to the east of the community is Singleton Station, where an unprecedented groundwater licence was granted by the NT Government in 2021. If this goes ahead, the water will be given for free to a private company farming food for export.

There is unanimous opposition from Ali Curung community members and Traditional Owners who fear becoming refugees in their own land and want to protect their water for future generations.

This is the first release in a newly launched Water Justice Project, directed by Ali Curung community member Maureen Nampijinpa O'Keefe. Filmed and edited by Pete Raftos, Minotaur House. Produced by Running Water Community Press in partnership with Arid Lands Environment Centre.

For more information contact [email protected] or visit these links:

To share the Water Justice video, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwY1KYugPac

To follow the Water Justice Project, @AridLandsEC @runningwatercommunitypress

ALEC Stop Singleton Station Campaign website: https://www.alec.org.au/stopsingleton

Background on NT Government Water Allocation Plans: https://www.alec.org.au/ntg_removes_protections_for_ecological_and_cultural_values_in_biggest_water_allocation_plan_ever

ABC report on NT Government secret dealings to make Singelton happen: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-11/nt-water-licence-singleton-station-fortune-agribusiness-foi/100608364

ABC report on the exclusion of Ali Curung community film from government water consultations: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-29/bottled-water-remote-aboriginal-community-ali-curung/102528686

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Ali Curung Says No to the Single Station Water Licence

108 emails sent

Email Tanya Plibersek, Federal Minister for the Environment and Water, and ask her to stop the Singleton Station Water Licence immediately

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To Minister Plibersek,

I am writing to join my voice with the unanimous demands coming from the remote community of Ali Curung in the NT to immediately stop the largest fresh groundwater licence for irrigation in Australia - the Singleton Station Water Licence.

I support the community of Ali Curung in requesting that you publicly respond without delay to this video (https://youtu.be/uwY1KYugPac) that Traditional Owners, senior Elders and community members are circulating as part of a community-led Water Justice Project expressing their opposition.

The Singleton Station Water Licence proposes to take up to 40,000 ML/year of shallow groundwater. Projects like this are  being enabled by the NT Government’s dangerous approach to water allocation across their jurisdiction. For example, the Western Davenport Water Allocation Plan - within which the Singleton project sits - does not meet National Water Initiative Standards. It will allow up to 30% of groundwater dependent ecosystems in the region to be damaged or destroyed.

The NT Government is being exclusionary and non-transparent about the Singleton Station project. In the initial stages, they secretly negotiated with the project’s investment company to change government water allocation rules so it could proceed. Most recently, a community request for the video above to be screened at government water consultations in Mpartnwe Alice Springs was rejected. This is unacceptable and needs to be urgently dealt with by your office. The voice of Ali Curung community must be heard and acted upon.

Minister Plibersek, I am asking you to urgently intervene and protect the rare and vitally important groundwater ecosystems of the central desert.

I request you:

1. Meet with members of the Ali Curung community and listen to their collective voice saying No to the Singleton Station Water Licence

2. Expand the scope of the water trigger established through the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) (EPBC Act) to include irrigation projects and lobby the Northern Territory Government to revoke the Singleton Station Water Licence

3. Insist that the draft Western Davenport Water Allocation Plan is re-written in accordance with the National Water Initiative Standards

As Water Justice Project director, Maureen Nampijinpa O’Keefe, said to the ABC last week,

"I want people to listen to our pleas for help. This is life-threatening. Water is life. No water, no life… This is about people's lives, this is about human rights… The impact will be devastating, and [if this goes ahead] we will hold the government responsible for the damage."

Thank you for considering my concerns.

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