In early 2022 we worked together with allies across the state to push the Victorian government to prioritise healthy rivers in its Central and Gippsland Region Sustainable Water Strategy (SWS) – a plan which deals with the next fifty years of water management in southern Victoria.
Alongside Environmental Justice Australia and local groups like Yarra Riverkeeper, People for A Living Moorabool (PALM) and Friends of Latrobe Water (FLoW) we exposed the shortcomings in the government’s draft strategy.
An Open Letter, signed by 50 local groups and nearly 2,000 Victorians advocated for stronger policies that would sustain our rivers and all the communities they support. While the final strategy (released in September 2022) still falls short of what’s needed, this network will now continue building the long term power needed to secure healthy rivers across the region.