THE failures of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan need to be fixed “as soon as tomorrow”, according to Sunraysia Citrus Growers chairman Kevin Cock.
Mr Cock was among thousands of fed-up growers and irrigators who converged on Federal Parliament on Monday in a combined effort to highlight the failure of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
A vigil was held on the steps of Parliament House, as part of the protest with farmers calling for a “major policy reform” or the plan to be “scrapped” before it caused too much damage.
Mr Cock said there would be serious repercussions – including algae, fish kills and farmers turning water off on their properties – if concerns were ignored and changes were not made.
“What plan is a good plan that tips water into the ocean, dries the Darling out and builds a dam in Canberra?” he said.
“I really hope in the short-term they make the adjustments to the volumes that are going out to sea — that’s got to happen and they have to stop doing that.
“The second thing they have to do is build that weir at Wellington — that is a little bit longer-term.
“That will then allow the equivalent of one Hume Dam to be left for the environment, for the communities and for production and they won’t have to drain the Menindee lakes again and destroy that river.
“They need to make changes to the plan tomorrow.”
Mr Cock said Sunraysia farmers made sure they “could not be missed” at Monday’s protest and they set up a stall “as close to Parliament House as anyone else”.
There they handed out free local produce including orange juice, avocados, oranges, almonds, dried fruit and wine packs to showcase just how vital water was to the region.
Mr Cock said the group attracted the attention of One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, who said she was going to fight for change as the plan was not working for the farmers, environment or communities.
He said if farmers were already “really feeling the bite” of water prices and allocations.
“A lot of farmers that I talked to about coming (to the protest) said ‘Kevin I just don’t want to be depressed anymore’.
“I’m lucky in a way, I’m in NSW and we have a higher allocation, but that’s not going to last, that’s definitely not going to last.
“It is embarrassing that we pump from the same river, we grow the same products, we sell in the same markets, my grandchildren go to the same schools as other growers who have zero allocation.
“That’s just wrong.
“I am trying to encourage them to speak up for water, which is exactly what we are doing.
“If it doesn’t rain by the end of summer they are going to have 1.6 million people coming to Canberra for a drink.
“They have got plenty of water here and there’s 1.6 million people at the basin.”
Mr Cock said the protest would continue on Tuesday with a series of meetings at Parliament House.
