The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) says claims by Federal Water Minister Tanya Plibersek that Basin farmers are thriving under a decade of water buybacks is untrue, and the reality is farmers are fearing the next big dry.
VFF Water Council chairperson Andrew Leahy said Northern Victorian farmers are on edge.
“It’s simply untrue. If 450GL is recovered from farmers as the Albanese Government is suggesting, it will have disastrous impacts on farmers, food production and regional jobs in the next drought,” he said.
“We know droughts cause catastrophic long-term impacts to those on the land. Orchards that take years to establish are destroyed, thousands of dairy cows are sent off to slaughterhouses, farmers go bankrupt and tragically, the mental health burden on some becomes too much.
“The 450GL reduction in the amount of water available for production will have a particularly savage effect during droughts, because the water transferred to the environmental water holder will be locked away for environmental use.
“In the drought of 2018, Victoria provided 73 percent of the total environmental water. This results in Victoria carrying a proportionately greater economic impact of water purchases.”
Mistruths
Mr Leahy added that it’s frustrating Minister Plibersek and the Albanese Government continue to spread mistruths on water recovery for the 450GL.
“The truth is her own Department website produces a summary table of all recoveries and it clearly states 12.2GL has been recovered with a further 13.8GL under contract. That’s a total of 26GL towards the 450GL, not the 2GL she keeps suggesting”.
Give us the facts
“It’s high time the Albanese Government stopped the lies and spin and give us the facts.”
“Minister Plibersek repeatedly mentioned the importance of South Australia’s Lower Lakes in her recent speech, and she did not even touch on the Darling system.”
“Nowhere in the legislative reforms does it identify or attempt to improve the flows or environmental outcomes for the Darling River”.
“It is the Darling system where we’ve seen record fish kills and is where they need to be thinking about setting environmental objectives. It seems it is all about votes in South Australia, so there is no care for the total Murray Darling system.”
“We need the Government to realise they are playing with people’s livelihoods with these reforms and there will be catastrophic impacts when the next drought hits.”
The VFF has outlined these concerns in its submission to the Senate Inquiry.
This article appeared in The Buloke Times, 10 October 2023.
