14 June 2024
A recent parliamentary sitting made it clear the NSW Premier thinks that simply talking in Question Time about being against water buybacks, is enough to stop them from happening across the Murray Darling Basin (MDB).
I’m sorry Premier but the Opposition is of the view that actions speak louder than words.
And given it’s almost one year since the NSW Labor Government signed-on to the new basin plan deal with the Commonwealth, and we’re yet to see any progress on stopping water buybacks, I respectfully suggest Premier that we need less talk and more action from you – including in next week’s budget – to prevent the devastation that buybacks would unleash on our rural and regional communities.
A report this week by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) has confirmed that buybacks will cost the economy millions every year, and push up the cost of food production for our farmers.
The Premier and his Water Minister say they’re against buybacks when it comes to recovering the additional 450 GL of water for the environment that the Federal Labor Government is demanding from the states under the new deal.
But without action, the Premier’s words are meaningless.
The Labor Government has done nothing to prove it really is opposed to buybacks: it has done little when it comes to consulting with communities who will be hit hardest; they’ve done next to zero when it comes to developing alternative plans; and they haven’t done a single thing about putting safeguards in place to protect vulnerable communities from the socio-economic impact that we know buybacks have.
The Wilcannia and Louth Weir fiascos are two examples of where this Government has ignored local residents and are pushing ahead with outcomes that will reduce water security for basin communities.
The one thing you can always rely on a Labor Government to do is a report, inquiry, or a review as a proxy for work on the ground. Case in point, their latest report on the MDB cost taxpayers $80,000 to tell them what we the Opposition and indeed those in the bush already know: that water buybacks decimate rural and regional communities.
The NSW Government justified turning their backs on regional communities by claiming the Commonwealth promised more money and more time on water saving alternatives to buybacks, only if NSW signed up to the new deal. And yet, we have since seen the Commonwealth afford the Victorians the same offer, without having to sign the revised plan.
Premier, you can talk all you like in Question Time about being opposed to buybacks, but until you actually step up and do something about it, your words are meaningless.
Published: The Daily Telegraph - Pg 73 - OPINION - 14 June 2024
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