Political heads bring the water buyback fight to state level
By Aaron Cordy
WATER is always going to settle in the thoughts of many in the Goulburn Valley as the sweat nestles on the brow of a farmer working her land in an Australian summer. While the buybacks have been pushed through the Federal Parliament, there is still a force in the State Legislative Assembly that knows how important this resource is and what a devastating effect it will have on the country if it is mismanaged when the next drought strikes.
State Shadow Minister for Agriculture Emma Kealy and Deputy Leader of The Nationals and Shadow Minister for Water Tim McCurdy met with Member for Shepparton District Kim O’Keeffe, and Federal Member for Nicholl Sam Birell at local water advocate and dairy farmer, Natalie Akers’ property in Tallygaroopna, and SPC in Shepparton last week as part of the Nationals Buyback Fightback Tour, to help gain an understanding of what effects the buyback will have on farming communities.
The Nationals’ Buyback Fightback Tour has encompassed stops in Wodonga, Yarrawonga, Shepparton, Kyabram, Robinvale, and Mildura in Victoria’s northwest.
Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Mental Health Emma Kealy was on sight to see the impact the buybacks will have on communities.
“The State Government is saying that they won’t sign up to the plan but we’ve now got federal legislation that is through, which has taken out the socio-economic criteria, which means that there isn’t a measure to say, well, if you take the water out of the region that it will have a community impact, and that’s a very, very big problem,” said Ms Kealy.
“The only options the minister [Labor Minister for Water, Harriet Shing] really has available is to take the matter to the high court and challenge it that way. Which is unlikely to be successful and would cost a huge amount of taxpayer money. What I’m most concerned about is Victoria is broke, Labor can’t manage money, they can’t manage projects and I can’t see how they are going to be able to manage to protect the water resources in Victoria and protect our local growers and jobs.”
For dairy farmers like Natalie Akers, the thought of selling water is something she doesn’t want to contemplate as she hopes to raise generational farmers on her property. The effects of the buybacks on the future of agriculture is something she won’t risk for her farm because despite the recent floods she understands the next drought is potentially around the corner.
“As farmers, we hedge our bets, and we manage the risk of the climate. So, when times are dry times and things are getting drier and the pool of water that’s available to farmers is becoming less and less, and the worry is how much food will farmers be able to grow,” said Ms Akers.
Member for Shepparton District, Kim O’Keeffe today joined the Goulburn Valley leg of the tour.
“It’s really important just to keep fighting. We lost over 50% of our dairy farms across the region which is significant. For a generation farm here, they want to keep it for future generations and keep doing what they do so well and producing food that’s feeding a nation,” said Ms O’Keeffe.
