New Murray Darling Basin Plan no better than earlier Guide to a Plan
December 15, 2011
The new Murray Darling Basin proposal is no better than the earlier Guide to the Plan that saw the CEO resign and the Labor Government discredited.
Dr Sharman Stone, Federal Member for Murray, said today “The new draft proposes to take even more water from Northern Victoria simply because we have the most secure water in the Basin.
“When the Federal Government buys water for their Environmental Water Holder it can actually be held in our dams and be carried over from one season to the next. When they buy water from Queensland or Northern New South Wales they are simply buying a wish and a prayer. Penny Wong got into terrible trouble doing this and wasting taxpayer’s money.
Sharman Stone said “the fact is that Victoria has already provided some 17 percent of environmental flows for the Basin compared to less than three percent from other states and we have also already met at our end-of-valley water saving commitments.
“The Murray Darling Basin Authority has only put water buyback on hold for 12 months. Meanwhile the Victorian Government has lifted the cap to allow those on the waiting list to sell their water to the Labor Government so the water exit from our local production continues.
“Less water means less jobs, every 100 megalitres gone, is one job gone from our economy.
“We cannot even be assured that the destruction of our jobs and communities will do even more good for the environment than is currently the case. It is all about making the Greens in the cities feel happy,” Sharman Stone said.
“The community consultation meeting in Shepparton yesterday was simply a talk fest with literally hours of stonewalling from the new chair Craig Knowles. If he tries the same tactic at other community meetings he may find people a lot less patient and polite than those who hung on to their questions for an hour after hour while the droning continued.
“We have three months to get this right,” Sharman Stone said. “Be assured the fight will continue.”
A copy of the document is available on the Murray Darling Basin Authority website: www.mdba.gov.au
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