Sharman Stone MP

 

“The new Victorian Coalition Government is now taking the problems of Goulburn Murray Water very seriously,” Sharman Stone said.

 

“Overcoming years of turning a blind eye and neglect by its owners, the Brumby and Bracks Governments, Irrigators have been buffeted by bad administration, poor maintenance, unjustified price hikes, rude behaviour and poor response to their problems for years.

 

“Too many irrigators have found to their cost, that making a complaint about poor management, poor service delivery or unfair charges has resulted in them being treated as malcontents rather than paying customers with genuine concerns.”

 

Sharman Stone said the State Government needs to ensure that Goulburn Murray Water introduces a properly structured customer complaints procedure that is benchmarked and transparent and provides for timely responses to concerned customers without fear of any form of retribution or intimidation.

 

“The move of the Zone Six irrigators in the Murray portion of the Goulburn Murray Irrigation District to separate themselves away from state water authority ownership in order to become and irrigator cooperative, owning and managing the water supply system is obviously the best option now, at least for that part of the irrigation system,” Sharman Stone said.

 

“In 1994 the Coalition of Australian Governments (COAG) guided all states to hand over irrigation systems to their irrigators. New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia all have well run, strong farmer owned and managed irrigation systems.

 

“The only State to ignore the COAG directive was Victoria, who continued to own the irrigation system, grossly mismanaging it and causing enormous grief to its irrigator customers.

 

“The independent Ombudsman Inquiry into NVIRP, Goulburn Murray Water, and DSE is now in full swing.

 

Sharman Stone urged all those who have something to say about their experience of these agencies to participate in the Ombudsman inquiry by calling toll free 1800 806 314.

 

“We have to have a system that is cost effective, efficient, focused on maintenance of the system and is working in the interests of irrigators. That’s something we have not seen for a very long time,” Sharman Stone said.