Media Release
850 billion litres of water purchased through Federal Government buybacks has not been used according to an Australian Audit Office report, Commonwealth Environmental Watering Activities, released today.
This is despite the Federal Government not expecting to acquire even half the Murray Darling Basin water it has deemed necessary for environmental watering purposes.
The Australian Government has bought an asset with borrowed money that the government does not know what to do with. This is a business plan very similar to that of the NBN. We are borrowing money from overseas to put people out of business, to make it harder to repay the money that Labor has borrowed.
850 billion litres is more water than what is in Sydney Harbour and was bought at taxpayer expense for billions of dollars. This unused water has simply served to deplete the economic base of rural communities, cut jobs and food production.
It begs the question of whether the Federal Government will attempt to find ways to utilise this water. Will consideration be given to ensure this water is used for the most environmental and economic benefit and not exacerbate flood events?
Regardless, for the Murray Darling communities deprived of billions of dollars worth of productive capacity, this water is just another example of Labor Government waste.
Barnaby Joyce
I am afraid that Neville has set the scene here with his very first submission - in the fervour of attempting to bag the federal government he gets his fundamental fact blatantly wrong - and no-one has apparently seen fit to correct him.
The Federal Government did NOT buy Cubbie Station and so could not possible have then sold it on to the Chinese. Big bad Cubbie Station was put up by the environmentalist lobby as representing all that was wrong with Murray/Darling Basin extraction - blaming the effects of extreme drought upon upstream extraction when in fact there was stuff all water anywhere to be extracted - and Cubbie Station went to the wall through lack of water - and was subsequently sold (rightly or wrongly) to the Chinese - but not by the Government.
As for Senator Joyce's criticism that water saved had not been used - he is exhibiting a fundamental lack of understanding of the Basin Plan and the Basin itself. The water bought back and/or saved for the environment (up to 2,750GL per year) is a long term average and in this highly variable system there will be extreme highs and extreme lows - just as irrigation allocations vary according to what is available - and it is the major upstream storages that hold water from year to year to enable the highs and lows to be, to some extent, smoothed out.
Sorry to spoil a good 'government bashing' party but these are the facts of the matter - the water not used this year is there in the storages for use next year or the year after. Just as water in the storages is there for irrigation use next year and the year after. Not that hard really but if our main agenda is to slag the federal Government (as Senator Joyce understandably wants to do) it might be remembered that the current basin Plan was supported by both the major parties - so we can take our pick whether to blame Howard's Water Act of 2007 or Burke's tabling of the Murray Darling Basin Commission's final version into law - at the end of the day, it is the environmental lobby that needs to be looked at with their ongoing blatant misrepresentation of fact.
If we get into the blatant falsehood game too, we will damage our cause. Let's stick to the facts.
Cheers
For the first time in decades, the choice we make here in the New England electorate could determine the future of our country. I have been working hard to make sure that our local area has a strong voice in a new Liberal & Nationals government. I have travelled our region extensively and I keep hearing the same things – people want a strong, stable government who can keep our debt under control, repeal the carbon tax and take action to fix the live cattle debacle. They want a strong player in the Coalition to represent them. They are sick of the waste and the spin that has been the legacy of this Labor government. And they want a government that is serious about delivering a better deal for the regions, by protecting jobs and communities.
So, are you saying it's a good idea to borrow money to cut our productive capacity Poly?
Please explain.
Useless froth from Joyce. The 850 gigs is only a very small percentage of the total currently in M-DB storages,currently holding over 25,000 gigs.