[Greens-Media] $12.9B Water Plan an 'uncoordinated trickle' - Greens

[Norton, Tim (Sen R. Siewert)]

$12.9B Water Plan an 'uncoordinated trickle' - Greens

Australian Greens water spokesperson Senator Rachel Siewert has hit out at Government spending on the Murray Darling Basin crisis as being too slow and haphazard, labelling it today as an "uncoordinated trickle".

"The Government's attempts to tackle our water crisis are welcome, but they are going about it the wrong way," said Senator Siewert.

"Buying water here and there without any plan for managing sustainability of irrigation infrastructure or managing the impact on local communities will backfire."

"There is a real problem with the approach of buying up water here and there without any plan about how this will impact on the sustainability of irrigation infrastructure and local communities."

"There is no point in having three separate buckets of funds - one for water buyback, one for irrigation efficiency, and one for structural adjustment - and no coordination or planning of how they are spent."

"The result looks more like Swiss cheese than a smart and sustainable agricultural sector," she said.

"If individual irrigators opt out, the end result is an irrigation system which is more expensive to run and harder to make more efficient - with an increased risk of 'stranded assets'."

The Greens are calling on the Government to put more resources into community planning to provide irrigation districts with the information, tools and support to develop a plan for investing in the future.

"We're calling it the MDB 2010-2050 - because it is all about communities building a shared vision of a vibrant and sustainable community in 2050, with the plans in place and the bulk of the money becoming available by 2010," said Senator Siewert.

"This is not about the Government picking winners - it is about empowering the community to make informed decisions, and offering more money to groups of farmers who want to target their investments practically to improve their best land and restructure the less viable aspects of their farms."

"Meanwhile, delays in rolling out of investment in irrigation efficiency mean we are missing a real opportunity to give farmers something to do while they have no water.  Enabling local trades-people to work on building the future now would be a real shot-in-the-arm for cash-strapped basin communities," said Senator Siewert.

"The Greens will be making the urgent need to speed up an effective rescue of the Murray Darling system a major focus of the Senate when it resumes next week."

"The Government have been too focused on talking with the States behind closed doors and have failed to consult and engage with affected communities. There is a real opportunity for the Government to boost the impact of their investments by helping farmers get together to  make informed decisions about their sustainable  futures," concluded Senator Siewert.

For more information or media enquiries please call Tim Norton on 0418 401 180
senator.siewert at aph.gov.au  |  www.rachelsiewert.org.au  |  www.greensmps.org.au