“ACTIONS speak louder than words” when it comes to the “ailing” Murray-Darling Basin Plan, according to Sunraysia Citrus Growers’ chair and food producer Kevin Cock.
Mr Cock travelled to Brisbane this week, as federal and state water ministers attended a crucial meeting and debated key aspects of the river system’s $13 billion plan.
He said he wanted to witness a first-hand account of how politicians would fix issues around the Murray-Darling Basin, however walked away “disappointed”, particularly with Victorian Minister for Water Lisa Neville.
“Minister Neville has regularly called out the flaws in the Basin Plan, including the delivery shortfalls and this week the inability to deliver proposed flows due to constraints issues,” Mr Cock said.
“At the meeting in Brisbane she had an opportunity to take a major step forward by supporting increased powers for the Basin Plan’s Inspector-General Mick Keelty, but refused to do so.
“That was a major disappointment.”
Mr Cock is a third-generation grower, who has witnessed his business on the NSW side of the Murray River shrink to 34 hectares of citrus, and has been forced to remove his wine grapes.
He attributed his losses to “insufficient access” to affordable water, and said he “struggles” to watch the Murray run at “consistently high levels” with much of the water he is unable to touch being “poured out to sea” or “wasted through evaporation in the lakes at the end of the system”.
“We needed Lisa Neville to stand up this week and support Mr Keelty’s work so he can iron out some of the Basin Plan problems, but all we got was a slap in the face to Federal Water Resources Minister David Littleproud,” Mr Cock said.
“Victoria claims to be leading the way in resolving water management issues, but where is their action around their concerns with unregulated development downstream of the Barmah choke, and around foreign ownership of land and water?
“I am not sure how we get the message across to politicians that there are serious problem which must be fixed.”
Mr Cock said the Basin Plan had a whole range of faults that need to addressed.
“If a car had so many faults there would be an urgent recall,” he said.
“It wouldn’t be allowed on the road.
“Minister Neville has acknowledged and identified some of the faults, but instead of demanding the Basin Plan be taken to the nearest garage and given a major overhaul, she lets it speed ahead towards inevitable catastrophe.
“We will continue lobbying for the changes that are needed, but our frustration is at boiling point.”
