Menindee Update.

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Screen capture from ABC Broken Hill website taken at 1755 (AEDT)

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Did the current crisis fall unexpectedly, out of the blue or were there reasons to believe things could get ugly?

This multimedia report by Anne Davies, Mike Bowers, Andy Ball, and Nick Evershed, published in April 2018, offers a look up close and personal around country Australia and suggests answers to those questions: Murray-Darling: when the river runs dry

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Yesterday Les Gordon, chair of the National Farmers’ Federation water taskforce (collective representative of farmers, including large cotton and rice farmers) published: Fish kill blame game unhelpful, amid perfect storm of problems.

Four independent experts (two scientists, a water economist and an expert in water policy reform) seem to disagree with the “perfect storm” view espoused by Niall Blair and Gordon:

'Drought, climate change and mismanagement': What experts think caused the death of a million Menindee fish
By Nick Kilvert. Posted about an hour ago.

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I believe something needs to be done. Australian readers may feel the same.

A possibility is to sign or join one of a few online petitions/campaigns around the subject of the Murray-Darling. I located these:

The Australian Conservation Foundation petitions PM Scott Morrison and federal opposition leader Bill Shorten an independent EPA to protect our rivers (link).

GetUp! Save the Murray Darling campaign (link)

Earthlings Studios promotes this downloadable letter to the Prime Minister of Australia (link). Make sure you read the note appended at the bottom.

Personally and for different reasons I do not endorse any of these initiatives. For example, is there any reason to believe an independent Australian EPA, similar to its American counterpart, would be immune to the failings manifested by State and Commonwealth bureaucracies? Readers, however, may think differently. Go there and judge by yourselves.

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Another possibility is to contact one’s representatives at State and Federal parliaments and demand immediate action. In case readers know for sure who those representatives are, just Google their names.

Readers unsure about their representatives may follow these tips:

For your representative at State Parliament (Legislative Assembly):
The NSW Electoral Commission search (link) should tell you the name of your representative; just enter your suburb or postcode and hit the “Search” button. Once you know his/her name, Google your representative’s name. Try any of the matches and chances are you will find at least an email address.

For your representative at Federal Parliament (House of Representatives):
The Australian Electoral Commission “Check my enrolment” search (link) should tell you your electorate.  Fill in the details required (name, postcode, suburb, street name and verification code) and hit the “Verify enrolment” button. Suppose your electorate is XYZ. With this information Google “who is the member for XYZ” (what’s inside the scare marks). As before, try any of the matches and chances are you will find at least an email address.

Suggestions and tips about different possibilities are welcome.

UPDATE:
Discuss this question with your friends. I myself have no Facebook or Twitter account and am unfamiliar with whatever possibilities they may offer. Readers more savvy, if they find it convenient, could use them to generate ideas or to exert some pressure on our masters.