THE New South Wales Government must reconsider its support for the National Water Plan because the emphasis has moved away from increasing water resources in Australia to the short-term plan of simply buying allocation, according to NSW Shadow Minister for Water Adrian Piccoli.
Mr Piccoli said when announcing the National Water Plan in January last year, former prime minister John Howard emphasised the priority was to invest in irrigation infrastructure.
“We cannot solve the problems (of water) unless we do things: we invest heavily and on an unprecedented scale in irrigation infrastructure both on and off farm and we have the courage, as well as the financial commitment, to tackle the problem of over allocation,” Mr Howard said in January last year.
“Unfortunately, the new federal government has moved away from the harder job of investing in infrastructure, which would increase available water resources, and towards the more simplistic and short-term approach of buying back water allocations, which will have significant impacts on farm viability, sustainability and food prices,” Mr Piccoli said.
“If we are looking forward as a country then surely we must exhaust all opportunities to expand the water resources in the Murray Darling Basin by investing in piping and lining channels and reducing evaporation in places like Menindee
Lakes and Lake Alexandrina in South Australia.
“There are also significant opportunities to expand water storages, like Chaffey Dam near Tamworth, which are just desperate to be funded and should form part of long-term future planning, not just for NSW but for Australia.
“Simply buying water from licence holders will reduce water viability for food
production ultimately leading to increased food prices and lower production.
“Just last Friday in my electorate office I had two farmers come to see me separately, both saying they were going to sell their water and stop farming.
“One will bulldoze his citrus trees, and the other will sell all of the water off his property (where he usually grows corn and other grains) and then sell the land as dry area,” Mr Piccoli said.
“If this is where we are moving toward under the National Water Plan, then NSW has to have a rethink as to whether we still support the plan.
“Governments at all levels must remember that we are blessed with a relatively cheap and abundant supply of food products because of a viable irrigation industry.
“Next time you eat a carrot or an onion or a steak or have milk in your coffee, remember that it is available because of irrigation and it’s cheap because of irrigation – all of that can change very rapidly.
“Every megalitre that is taken away from production means that jobs are lost, the price of food rises, and we lose export dollars,” he said.
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