The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water has admitted that it used computer-generated imagery (CGI) in a recent $14 million Murray-Darling Basin advertising blitz, raising serious concerns about the accuracy and appropriateness of the campaign.
Concerns have been raised for months that the enormous advertising campaign which has included pictures from places far away from the Basin in it its ideological campaign advertising about the need to act to protect the Murray Darling Basin.
Shadow Water Minister, Perin Davey, criticised the Federal Government’s decision to use CGI to depict an apocalyptic future scenario of the Murray-Darling Basin, calling it misleading and an exaggerated portrayal of potential drought impacts.
The Department had previously refused to answer questions on where images used in the ads and the associated online campaign were taken in the basin and whether they were AI generated.
Finally, during Senate Estimates hearings, in an excruciating scene straight out of Utopia, Ms Anita Agett, Communications and Media Branch Head of the Department admitted, “there is one image where CGI was used to show a potential future scenario”.
The image in question depicted a severely dry Murray-Darling Basin, which Department Secretary David Fredericks defended as an “honest attempt” to illustrate what a dry Basin might look like.
Mr Fredericks also suggested that there were no real images available that matched this scenario, prompting the use of CGI.
When pressed for clarification on the evidence base for using such stark imagery, Senator Davey pointed out the historical inaccuracies in the campaign’s portrayal saying, “the Murray River did not run dry even during the millennium drought.”
During the exchange the Department also reluctantly admitted it had used photographs that didn’t come from the Basin, with a picture of an orange orchard having been taken in Turkey.
When he was informed that a Turkish orange orchard was being passed off as one in the Basin, Griffith Citrus Grower and co-founder of Redbelly Citrus, Vito Mancini said it was evidence the Department did not respect food producers in the Basin.
“Our region is one of the most photogenic citrus regions in the world and for the Department to take an image from Turkey when they could just come to Griffith and get better shots is bitterly disappointing” Mr Mancini said.
Senator Davey urged the Government to invest in meaningful solutions for the Basin.
“Instead of spending $14 million on an exaggerated ad campaign, we should be addressing critical issues like fish passage and riparian health,” she said.
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