By Aaron Cordy
FARMERS remain outraged as the Federal Government pushes forward with water buybacks, as the drought continues to take its toll, with calls to stop the buyback going unheard.
At a press conference in Shepparton recently, Victorian Minister for Water Gayle Tierney called on the Commonwealth to pause the buybacks.
“The first thing that we have done is request from the Commonwealth an absolute pause on buybacks. And I think that’s an incredibly important start,” said Ms Tierney.
“The other element is that we’ve also called on the Commonwealth to publicly provide the socio-economic impact document that they have been working on in relation to buybacks, I think that the region fully deserves and needs to know exactly what the consequences of buybacks actually mean.”
The Minister was unable to secure the pause on the buybacks, which Ms Tierney confirmed in state parliament last month.
The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) has also slammed the Federal Government for paying a staggering premium of $1,000 per megalitre above the seasonal average in its recent purchase of Goulburn water.
VFF Water Council Chair Andrew Leahy said the deal involved the Commonwealth acquiring 13,114 megalitres of Goulburn water across 37 separate parcels, paying $4,810 per megalitre, well above the seasonal market average of $3,800. The total cost to taxpayers of $63M.
“This is a clear example of the Commonwealth using its buying power to outbid farmers and inflate the price of water, the very lifeblood of our food production system,” said Mr Leahy.
“It’s appalling. This not only puts farmers under financial pressure but also undermines the integrity of the water market.”
Despite the much-needed recent rain, the state and parts of the country are still experiencing below-average rainfall, and climatologists say it will take long and consistent periods of above-average rainfall to end the drought.
The question remains why the Commonwealth Government continues to take water from vital food-growing regions when resources are already drying up.
