The headline on the front of last week’s Adviser reads “Will Northern Victoria’s water vote matter?”
The answer is yes. It is a critically important vote, and for those interested in the future of our irrigated communities, there is only one choice.
As the article points out, Tanya Plibersek and Labor introduced a piece of legislation called ‘Restore our Rivers”. A more accurate title would have been ‘Destroy the Economy of Basin Communities” because what it did was enable the Federal government to buy more water from farmers in irrigation regions, including the Goulburn Murray Irrigation District, and take that water out of production, so it cannot be used to grow food. Instead, a lot of it would be sent down the Murray to keep the lower lakes in South Australia artificially high and artificially fresh.
“Our policy is clear, and our view is firm.
We do not support water buybacks.”
I sat in the parliament voting against this legislation with my National and Liberal colleagues, and what I saw over the other side was every Labor, Teal, Green and Orange (yes, Helen Haines from neighbouring seat of Indi) voting with the government for it. Voting for indiscriminate water buybacks and the economic pain that they impose on us.
I note that in The Adviser article former MP Suzanna Sheed stated, “we need to hear from opposition parties as to what they would do in relation to water buybacks”. She has obviously missed all of the media reporting of the Nationals position, including in The Adviser on December 18 last year which accurately reported that “Shadow Water Minister Senator Perin Davey and Federal Member for Nicholls Sam Birrell unveiled their proposed water policy last week, which prioritises infrastructure upgrades, reinstating a socio-economic neutrality test, and halting open tender buybacks to protect regional economies”
Our policy is clear, and our view is firm. We do not support water buybacks. Labor, greens and independents in the Federal parliament do. The only way to halt this economic vandalism is through the election of a coalition government.
