LABOR’S MURRAY-DARLING BASIN PLAN WILL AFFECT ALL AUSTRALIANS

By passing the Murray-Darling Basin changes 86-52, Labor has consigned Australia to less homegrown and more imported food and this equals higher grocery prices at a time of a cost-of-living crisis.

Those who voted for this appalling amendment bill would not know an irrigation channel if they saw one.

Labor has had its city blinkers on right throughout this debate – it hasn’t even bothered to consult with the very communities this plan will directly affect.

It is quite possibly the worst example of a Labor Government choosing political ideology over taking a pragmatic and logical path.

This is a profoundly sad day for Basin communities.

Buybacks destroy communities – it not only takes out water, but it also means less agricultural productivity which will drive up grocery prices for everyone. When the farmer sells up and leaves, the damage flows on to other sectors of the community such as pubs and clubs, hairdressers and clothes shops, schools and services – everyone will feel the brunt of this lazy policy.

The lack of understanding and complete disregard of the consequences of this poor outcome from this Government is galling.

I did not vote for the plan in 2012. I moved a disallowance motion against the plan. I feared then and it has come to pass now, that Labor cannot be trusted with looking after river towns – or regional Australia.

Labor cannot be trusted because it all too frequently partners with The Greens to hurt the endeavours of everyday, hard-working regional Australians who deserve better than what was passed in the Federal Parliament today and what will hurt country communities in the future.

After the plan was introduced, Labor added an additional 450 gigalitres to be recovered.

A safety mechanism was put in place to protect river communities from any detrimental social or economic impacts from taking this additional 450GL of water out of the system.

Labor has now taken away the 450GL neutrality test measures put in place in December 2018 by then-Water Minister David Littleproud – which were designed to protect both jobs and production and to be applied at a local, regional and state level.

This current Government has instead completely abandoned Basin communities for political expediency – it’s reckless behaviour from a Government and a Prime Minister who said they wouldn’t leave anyone behind.

This Government has sounded the death knell for river communities.

The Nationals will continue to strive for a better deal for irrigation communities, arguing that infrastructure, not buybacks, is the best way forward.