Water War Battles intensify for Australian farmers
Pastor Dale Morgan
Water War Battles intensify for Australian farmers*
By Catherine Best and Kate Lahey
July 04, 2007 07:01pm
Article from: AAP
ANGRY northern Victorian farmers will protest tomorrow against
Melbourne's "water grab" as politicians wrangle over whether locals want
the State Government's major water infrastructure project.
The Government maintains it has overwhelming support for the $1 billion
water upgrade in the Murray-Goulburn region, which is conditional on a
pipeline pumping water to Melbourne.
The first of a series of protest rallies will be held in Shepparton
tomorrow and Kerang on Monday.
But the Government won't be there to face community dissent, moving next
week's planned cabinet meeting from Kerang to flood-stricken Gippsland.
The National Party will join the rally and has accused the Government of
rescheduling to hide from protesters.
Victorian Nationals Leader Peter Ryan said cabinet would distract from
the recovery effort, which required “more Indians”, not chiefs.
But Regional Development Minister and head of the flood recovery task
force John Brumby said stricken communities wanted Cabinet there.
“You've got farmers down there that had all their fences burned away in
the bushfires, two months later they're washed away in the floods and
the leader of the National Party says the Cabinet shouldn't go there –
well what a grubby little shot that is,” Mr Brumby said.
The Nationals' federal Agriculture Minister and Gippsland MP Peter
McGauran backed the Gippsland meeting, he said.
The Government wants to upgrade water infrastructure in the
Murray-Goulburn region to save up to 225 billion litres of water annually.
Irrigators, Melburnians and the environment will share the savings
equally but the capital will have first dibs, via a $750 million
pipeline across the great dividing range.
Federal Liberal MP for Murray, Sharman Stone said the project would
destroy the region's water security for a short-term political gain that
would not solve the drought.
But Mr Brumby and Victorian Premier Steve Bracks said the protest was
more about “grinding the political axe” than widespread opposition.
“Water for irrigation is what is required to grow our economy ... they
can play their little politics games up to the federal election,” Mr
Bracks said.
“They'll be fuelled by the National Party and parts of the Liberal Party
trying to compete with each other for leverage in that region.”
The Northern Victorian Irrigators group, representing about 1000
members, voted 2-1 in support of the water plan, but opponents say the
result was contrived and is not representative of all farmers.
Shepparton Water Services Committee deputy chairman John Wenske said the
committee's 3500 members did not support the project because not enough
work had been done to prove its viability.
“We're very concerned that at the end of the day irrigators will be left
to bear any additional costs and be left without ... (if water)
...savings aren't achieved,” he said.
Water in the region was considered sacrosanct, Mr Wenske said.
“Water to Melbourne has always been the last bastion, it's never ever
been conceived that that would be considered.”
The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) remains opposed to the pipe.
President Simon Ramsay said even the Commonwealth's Murray-Darling Basin
plan – which the group opposes – would be a better deal for farmers.