VICTORIAN Farmers Federation (VFF) water council chair Andrew Leahy has slammed the Murray-Darling Basin Authority chief for “ignoring the ongoing impact” of farming communities.
Mr Leahy, who dairy farms in Murrabit, near Kerang, said Andrew McConville’s recent address to the Rural Press Club on the 10th anniversary of the basin plan’s green light “to take water from farming communities”, sounded like it was “designed to appease the Federal Labor government”.
“This speech reads as if there has been no opposition to the basin plan and that farming communities won’t be impacted by extreme water recovery targets,” Mr Leahy said.
“Did he not read about the mass protests in Canberra in recent years?
“We expect the MDBA chief executive to be professional and impartial, not a political sycophant.
“It seems he needs to re-read the basin plan as he forgot to mention in his speech that the 450GL is only possible if there are no negative social and economic impacts.”
Mr Leahy said Mr McConville’s commentary also ignored the facts surrounding the basin plan and the 450GL up-water target.
“Saying that all governments signed up to a 3200GL basin plan, that includes the 450GL, is a complete mistruth,” he said.
“The Victorian Government has never supported a 3200GL plan.”
Mr Leahy said in 2012, then water minister Peter Walsh stated he was “bitterly disappointed the Commonwealth Government is not pursuing the 2750GL plan, with offsets, that was agreed to by basin state ministers and the Commonwealth in July this year”.
“From Opposition in 2016, he further clarified that the 450GL deal secretly devised by former Labor water minister Tony Burke and South Australia’s Labor Government was not developed through the Basin Ministerial Council,” Mr Leahy said.
According to Mr Leahy, the commentary and actions around buybacks placed a huge dent in the confidence and investment certainty farmers needed, especially when they faced great challenges.
“The federal Labor government exploited farmers’ vulnerabilities in the crippling Millennium Drought with water buybacks and now they seem set to do so again during devastating floods,” he said.
“Flood affected farmers will face extreme hardships, due to destroyed crops and loss of income, and this renewed buyback call can only hurt agricultural production.
“Despite all the talk, no real change has been made to the basin plan – the problems the VFF identified 10 years ago with the 450GL and water buybacks remain just as strong today.”
United Dairy Farmers of Victoria president Mark Billing also slammed the comments, saying a recent report commissioned by the Victorian Government found the plan was responsible for reducing milk production in the state by 420 million litres.
“Northern Victoria produces over 80 per cent of the milk in the basin, it’s high time politicians and bureaucrats acknowledge the importance of food production and make some effort to protect it,” Mr Billing said.
“All reports suggest the recovery of the 450GL will destroy rural communities and decimate the northern Victorian dairy industry.
“An urgent conversation is needed around food security. We need to address a drying climate and ensuring farmers have enough water to grow the nation’s food.”
