Dear Editor,
The Victorian Farmers Federation, National Farmers Federation and the National Party seem to be indifferent to the plight of rural communities.
Instead, they appear hellbent on policy that is destroying the established rural irrigation communities.
One can only surmise that they see greater political mileage in appeasing their power base than supporting the irrigation regions which have limited political representation across a large geographic area and therefore little political significance.
Yet they should be in a position to argue strongly for rebuilding our nation’s prosperity at a time when this is desperately needed.
Now that David Littleproud is the Minister for Agriculture he is in the box seat to control everything across the agricultural spectrum, yet he remains reluctant to help the Southern Basin irrigation farmers who should be playing a much bigger role in producing the food we need for domestic and international consumption.
Littleproud should be promoting the value of irrigated agriculture, in particular:
- The value of quality Australian grown food.
- The value of an efficient and sustainable supply chain.
- The monetary value to rural communities and the entire nation.
There are so many advantages to our nation and its prosperity if we effectively promote the importance of irrigated agriculture and develop policy to ensure we make use of the opportunities it presents.
Unfortunately, in recent times we have wasted water and allowed its management to be controlled by bureaucracies with limited knowledge, or care factor, around its potential.
But the greatest tragedy is the refusal of peak advocacy groups and their National Party mates to acknowledge the failings and take steps to fix them. Until this changes, I suspect the party and these organisations will continue to lose relevance across the Southern Basin.
Yours faithfully,
Stuart Hipwell
Wunghnu, Vic
