Concern over closure of Goulburn Murray Water’s Swan Hill depot

SWAN Hill dairy farmer Lindsay Rogers is concerned the closure of Goulburn Murray Water’s Swan Hill depot will result in the further decline of the channel system.

Mr Rogers said he had been advised the depot was closing, and staff not moving to the Kerang depot would be made redundant.

GMW infrastructure delivery services manager Warren Jose confirmed that the organisation would close its Swan Hill Depot. Services from the Swan Hill depot will be transferred to GMW’s Kerang and Tatura depots.

Mr Rogers said a lack of maintenance was resulting in flood damage to his dairy farm.

He said he was concerned the closure of the Swan Hill depot would ultimately result in the authority using a contract system which would mean a loss of local knowledge and further decline of maintenance.

Mr Rogers said he was concerned it was the loss of another government service to Swan Hill.

“We cannot afford to lose these services,” he said.

“I have been told the staff at Swan Hill have been advised they have to move to Kerang or accept redundancies.”

Mr Jose said GMW had been liaising with staff and other stakeholders for six months to facilitate the move from Swan Hill.

Mr Rogers has seen flooding damage on his property for the second consecutive year.

“Fortunately this year it was a smaller paddock, but it should not occur,” he said.

“Because of a lack of maintenance water banks up and floods the surrounding land.

“It is essential for farming that they maintain the irrigation channels in this area.”

Mr Rogers said a bridge crossing was severely damaged, resulting in a cow becoming wedged in broken wood slats. He said it was fortunate the cow didn’t break its leg.

Nationals leader and Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh said he found it extremely disappointing that important access bridges “should fall into such a state of disrepair”. He said the access bridges were important for local producers.

Mr Walsh said that as soon as Mr Rogers came to see him and told him about his cow falling through the bridge, he got straight onto Goulburn Murray Water.

“I immediately contacted the GMW area manager and explained the problem and was assured someone would be sent around the next day to assess the damage and arrange repairs,” he added.

Mr Rogers said GMW had begun work on the bridge repairs.

“Unfortunately they are overwhelmed with work, and the transfer of the depot will make it worse because it will result in time lost travelling here.”

Mr Jose said transitioning the services to other existing depots would reduce overheads and “ensure we can keep prices sustainable for our customers now and into the future.

“Since February, the Swan Hill depot has only been manned intermittently,” he said. 
“It will be decommissioned and sold in the coming months.

“The changes will not see a reduction in staff numbers.”

He said GMW’s Swan Hill centre was a depot and not a customer-facing office and its closure would therefore not impact where customers can meet with GMW staff.

Swan Hill mayor Stuart King said council was concerned by the loss of any vital service in the municipality.

“While we understand the complexities involved in such management decisions, we cannot overlook impacts that this could have on infrastructure maintenance for our residents,” he said.

“We are comforted in their endeavours to keep prices sustainable for our residents and their commitment to maintaining current staff members.”

Mr Rogers said he was keen for council to write to GMW expressing concerns about the closure of the Swan Hill depot.