The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Australia), Dec 5, 2002 p009
Salt of the earth. (What's On)

Byline: Jennifer Dudley

WHEN Mike Sexton asked AFI award-winning actor David Wenham to narrate his documentary on salinity he was prepared for
rejection.

So the television producer was surprised when Wenham accepted the offer and flew from the New Zealand set of The Lord
of the Rings to contribute.

``I expected a `no','' Sexton says. ``But he came and he did more than he had to. I actually asked him `why are you doing
this?' and he said he was really interested in it and it was a way he could do something to help.''

Sexton, a producer on ABC's 7.30 Report, hopes he can muster the same interest from TV viewers on a subject that
``is ultimately quite depressing''.

The four-part series Silent Flood addresses the problem of salinity and explores future scenarios and solutions for the
phenomenon.

The series was created by the ABC's South Australian education unit, and Sexton was given strict instruction not to make
it into a ``current affairs-type documentary''.

For this reason, it contains no political interviews and simply explains what salinity is, its history, why it affects
Australia and how its effects can be prevented.

Sexton says viewers may be surprised to discover salinity affects urban areas as well as rural regions.

``That's one problem that has probably been underplayed a bit,'' he says. Sexton says buildings and roads soak up the
salt and can begin to fracture if action is not taken.

``Our biggest hope is that people will watch this and understand salinity because the prevention is better than the cure,''
he says.

Silent Flood, ABC, tonight, 8pm.