Leader of the Opposition and Member for Farrer Sussan Ley said regional Australia is once again being “hung out to dry” by a government that listens to activists ahead of the communities that produce the nation’s food.
“For more than three years Labor has brushed aside the voices of communities who rely on the Murray–Darling Basin for their livelihoods,” Ms Ley said.
“In its latest 130-gigalitre buyback, aimed squarely at the southern Basin and directly at towns across my electorate of Farrer, it’s not a policy for the environment.
“Places like Mulwala, Deniliquin, Barham, Wakool, Finley, Berrigan, Jerilderie and Tocumwal will carry the cost. These towns rely on irrigation for jobs, small business activity, and the confidence that holds our local economies together.
“When hundreds of billions of litres are removed from irrigation, it is not just water that disappears. It’s harvests that never occur, investment that dries up, and families who are forced to leave. It is the quiet erosion of the very fabric of regional life.
“That is not stewardship. It is vandalism.”
The 300 GL to be purchased forms part of the 450 GL of additional water that, under a 2018 agreement with the states, was only to be recovered if there was no negative socio-economic impact on Basin communities.
Federal Member for Nicholls Sam Birrell also criticised the announcement, calling the buybacks harmful and unnecessary.
“We hoped a new Minister would bring change, but Minister Watt (Environment and Water Minister Murray Watt) is proving he’s just as blind to the damaging consequences of water buybacks as his predecessor Tanya Plibersek,” Mr Birrell said.
“Buybacks are a blunt instrument that remove water from the consumptive pool, reducing productivity, costing jobs, and harming rural communities that rely on irrigated agriculture for their prosperity.
“I suspect this is an attempt to secure a deal with the Greens to pass Labor’s EPBC Act in the Senate, more job-destroying legislation.
“Minister Watt likes to claim the former Coalition Government stalled recovery of the additional 450 GL, which isn’t correct. Recovery couldn’t pass the important test of doing no harm to regional communities.”
