New Campaspe Shire Council Mayor Cr Rob Amos. Photo: Campaspe Shire Council
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The Murray River Group of Councils isn’t waiting any longer to be heard and will now take its “PushbackBuybacks” campaign to Canberra and the Inquiry into the Water Amendment (Restoring Our Rivers) Bill 2023.
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Its high-profile stand against reopening the market so the Environmental Water Holder can start buying water direct from irrigation farmers has earned it an invite to the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee public hearing tonight as part of the inquiry.
MRGC chair and Campaspe Shire mayor Rob Amos says he is looking forward to presenting the group’s position and reasons behind the pushback to the committee.
“The research and our collective experience tell us water buybacks damage local industries, economies and communities,” Cr Amos says.
“The legacy water buybacks left on our region last time include $500 million of lost productivity across the Goulburn Murray Irrigation District each year, massive job losses, business closure and the breakdown of the social fabric of communities. We can’t let that happen again.”
Water Minister Tanya Plibersek’s proposed changes have also been widely condemned by agricultural industries the length of the Murray.
Tanya Plibersek. Photo by AAP Image/Mick Tsikas.
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AAP Image/Mick Tsikas
Citrus Australia chief executive Nathan Hancock says the peak industry body and its growers are “deeply concerned” about the impacts of a buyback strategy announced for the Murray Darling Basin.
Mr Hancock says the move could have a significant impact on horticulture industries and rural communities located across the Murray Darling Basin.
“Minister Plibersek is quoted as saying she doesn’t need permission of states and territories to initiate buybacks, and that may be the case, but I think her statement lacks any awareness of the impacts further buybacks will have on families connected with primary industry, who rely on the river for their survival, and thus that of their towns and communities,” Mr Hancock added.
“Buybacks will only put more pressure on the people out here growing Australia’s food at a time when they’re still reeling from disrupted supply chains, caused by a global pandemic and the war in Ukraine,” he says.
Cr Amos says his group, and the region, “appreciated Senator David Van’s visit last week to hear firsthand our concerns and that of local farmers and agricultural industry representatives.
“It’s only through parliamentarians taking the time to listen to the voices and stories of ‘real people’ - on farms and in communities - that the gravity of the negative impacts water buybacks cause can truly be understood,” he says.
“We encourage all Australian parliamentarians to look beyond water targets only and apply a triple-bottom-line (environmental, social and economic impacts) lens when considering how they vote on the upcoming Bill – for the benefit of all Australians.”
For more information and to sign the petition, visit http://www.mrgc.com.au/pushbackbuybacks/
