MEMBER for Murray Helen Dalton has slammed claims made by Federal Water Minister Tanya Plibersek that she met hundreds of farmers and irrigators who supported her Murray-Darling Basin Plan reforms.
Ms Plibersek was the keynote speaker to the Peter Cullen Oration on May 22, and took the audience “behind the scenes on the Restoring our Rivers Bill, and how we worked to make progress”.
“Landing the basin plan involved negotiation, compromise, a clear objective and flexibility on the non-essentials.”
Ms Dalton said she’d like to know the names of the “supposed” supporters.
“Because I cannot find a single supporter of Tanya or her hair-brained ideas anywhere in … the entire Murray electorate,” Ms Dalton said.
“Perhaps she has mistaken inner-city Redfern Greens supporters for actual farmers.”
Ms Plibersek said to reset relations, she needed to hear from basin communities, academics, the agriculture sector and environmental advocates too.
“I made multiple visits to the southern basin. And the northern basin,” Ms Plibersek said.
“I spoke with hundreds of irrigators, environmentalists, Traditional Owners, business people, local government leaders, scientists, academics, and community members, from Queensland to the mouth of the Murray.
“We met by the river, on the farm, in community meeting rooms, at conference venues, on traditional lands and even in aeroplanes.
“There is such a wide diversity of opinions about the basin plan, depending on where you’re located and how you’re connected to water.”
Ms Plibersek said one thing was clear – buybacks had become a “trigger word in basin communities”.
“People remembered the large volumes of water licences bought after the Millennium drought,” Ms Plibersek said.
“Some smaller irrigation-dependent communities saw reduced economic activity and people leave the land.
“Water buybacks soon became the lightning rod for all economic decline in basin communities despite the causes of financial stress being multi-faceted – like the consolidation of farms and pressure on prices from supermarkets.
“When they were in government, the Liberal and National parties effectively took buybacks off the table.
“This was the recipe for inaction on the basin plan. Buybacks had to be an option on the table.
“Any realistic assessment would conclude the plan could not be delivered without voluntary water purchases.”
Ms Dalton said in the speech, the minister repeated the “false claims that the basin plan would help rural communities by taking 3200 gigalitres of environmental water away from food production”.
Ms Plibersek said: “Afterall – the basin plan is a plan to return 3200 gigalitres of water to the environment, to support our rural communities, our plants and animals – and the long-term future of our agricultural industry.”
Ms Dalton said this was “one of the most clueless and arrogant statements I’ve ever read”.
“Taking that water away from irrigation communities will decimate us,” she said.
“Besides, the Commonwealth already holds at least 4600GL of water. How much more water do they want from rural communities?”
“Doesn’t Tanya understand she is drastically over-recovering water and ruining our country in the process.”
Ms Dalton challenged the Ms Plibersek to visit the seat of Murray to meet the “real communities she’s about to ruin”.
“Tanya is terrified to set foot in this seat because she knows that no one agrees with her and believes her,” she said.
“Surely she should be honest enough to accept that politics and water just don’t mix.”
