Dear Editor,
Firstly, congratulations to Southern Riverina Irrigators and their chairman Chris Brooks for the way they are prepared to fight for our region’s future.
It must be a lonely battle, because they don’t get much support from those who should be doing the fighting.
What sought of help have they had from our Federal Member for Farrer Sussan Ley? In a nutshell, none. She has been our local member throughout the Murray-Darling Basin Plan disaster and has been totally ineffective in representing our interests.
Our new Senator Perin Davey understands the issues being faced, but her leader Michael McCormack and fellow parliamentarian Keith Pitt (the present Water Minister), are hardly jumping out of their skins to support her or our region.
As for the farming representative bodies, National Irrigators Council and NSW Irrigators Council, the less said the better. They seem more concerned with their political mates than our future.
As a result, SRI has to ask landholders to dip into their pockets, yet again, just so it is able to fight the politicians and every other self-interested individual and organisation, many of them prepared to sacrifice the Murray for their own personal gain.
And for as long as we’re prepared to give the government a safe seat of Farrer, nothing will change. Perhaps that needs to be hammered home to those who keep voting for the same and watching as we get delivered the same, year after year.
In the meantime, until we get a marginal seat or a local member and farming bodies who will genuinely fight for us, we have to do the fighting ourselves.
So I would encourage everyone to make their contribution to SRI, as requested, so they can continue their good work.
I know it’s wrong that we should have to pay when others should be doing a lot of the heavy lifting for us. But that’s the reality we’re facing, so we just have to suck it up until our futures are secured.
Yours faithfully,
Laurie Beer
Mayrung, NSW
