Drought struggles hit the farmers first, business second, town residents next, and then the cities.

Australia is vulnerable and has brought sharply into focus in recent drought struggles, and the flooding rains in far north Queensland.

Droughts, floods, and fires are, and always will be, part of the Australian environment. It is impossible to prevent these natural disasters from occurring, but their impact can be made more palatable. We need to place water resources and drought into context and become more action-oriented.

The effects of drought struggles can be distressing and can affect the whole town or village. Understanding droughts means you need to experience one to appreciate what the people must endure over many months or even years. It’s much more than our lawns needing water or increased Asthma because of the dust.

The carcasses of livestock and kangaroos killed in their desperate search for food and water add to the sense of despair for locals facing drought. Death lines the highways, with the increasing amount of roadkill as a constant reminder of the intense drought.

Drought is an accepted part of life, but it’s tough when the scars of drought remain fresh and unattended by those in leadership positions. People in drought can only carry so much of a burden, and we’ve all heard tragic stories about towns and families with too many people taking their own lives. To capital city folk, it’s an unseen struggle.

Drought struggles mean tough problem-solving and decision-making.

Many residents, not just farmers, have to make tough decisions about starving families and animals, particularly farm animals, because they provide future income to the farmers and throughout the community. Without animals, there are no crops and no income, and everyone and everything in the town or village goes into decline.

Like other businesses, I remember dealing with excessive debt during drought as a former machinery dealer. There’s not much you can do; you sit there hoping that much of it will eventually be recovered.

Many towns, including the larger centres, will have to start carting drinking water as the drought worsens. Millions of dollars are being spent on this, money a community can ill afford.

In the meantime owning your situation will help find solutions to drought struggles and see beyond any distortion of power. At first, owning your problems and frustrations is easy. However, letting yourself off the hook by finding fault or making excuses as the drought continues to bite, seduces many. Your choices and behaviours aren’t someone else’s fault.

So what is the answer?

Drought-proofing our towns and villages can be achieved in several ways. Perhaps this could be the start of a 10-point plan. When you look at all the money wasted by big governments, duplications, and minor
issues, it is not hard to see where the money can come from to do the job properly, once and for all. Hopefully, the silent majority is starting to become active.

It’s depressing when we’re powerless to address drought struggles and see risk-averse governments with no backbone doing what they should be doing. It’s time to get our country’s priorities right. We must stop the blame game, and governments must become more action-oriented.

Quotable Quotes

“God has cared for our trees, saved them from drought, floods and disease, but he
cannot save them from fools”. John Muir

“We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone”. Ronald Reagan