Agriculture
17 July, 2024
Buybacks cannot become buyouts
By CHRIS EARL GOVERNMENTS can be very good at opening the cheque books ... apart from when it comes to investing in what really matters for the people. The latest and sorry example is another attack on rural productivity, country communities and in...
By CHRIS EARL
GOVERNMENTS can be very good at opening the cheque books ... apart from when it comes to investing in what really matters for the people.
The latest and sorry example is another attack on rural productivity, country communities and in fact sustainability of enterprise.
The Federal Government is trying to twist the arm of primary producers in northern Victoria to offload their water entitlements.
From next week, irrigators will have the chance to “voluntarily” give up 70 gigalitres of water used on their farms, flows diverted in the name of the environment.
There’s also likely to be compensation to those communities impacted by this latest ideologically-driven attempt that shows how little bureaucrats understand about food production.
Their attitudes, and those of ruling political masters, may have been discoloured by all the talk of alternatives to meat - plant-based food some would have us dishing up at the meal table.
But hang on a minute, even plants need water to grow and thrive.
What happens when the Government does not reach its buyback target? More political pressure from the fringes could well lead to the offer becoming compulsory. Government finding more money ... and some may wonder why when the country, and the state of Victoria, has serious financial challenges.
Every cent used on taking water away from farmers will end up being many millions of dollars denied to maintenance of roads, provision of basic services and infrastructure ... and the first to miss out will probably be rural communities.
We don’t know how much is in the Federal Government’s kitty to pay for these buybacks. We do know, that in the Loddon Shire alone, there’s a likely shortfall of $40 million dollars over the next decade for council meeting the cost of basics like roads.
Whether the money for local roads comes direct from Canberra or through the State Government is irrelevant.
It remains that governments can find the cash - taxpayer dollars - to fund water buybacks as one example.
And there’s no transparency in how much money is spent. That is increasingly the place ordinary people, the taxpayers and voters, find themselves in.
Likewise, there was recently the announcement of $5 million given to the State Government to the Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Commission.
Enquiries of how that money will be spent have yet to draw out any details. We could hope that some will be invested at Lake Boort where the announcement was made. Concept plans - award-winning at that - have already been completed to boost visitation to the scar trees.
On Aboriginal culture, it would appear that Inglewood has been chosen as the Loddon gateway to connecting visitors with indigenous history.
Loddon Shire Council said as much last week when explaining the reason for a series of activities for NAIDOC week being staged in Inglewood.
That came only months after councillors accepted a report showing indigenous art and information would be incorporated into concept plans for an Inglewood streetscape project the council will pitch to governments for a slice of the funding pie.
Community consultation on the streetscape ideas will no doubt bring feedback on what local people want their main street to be like and how artistic ideas are able to show a balance between the heritage of Brooke Street and the inclusion of Aboriginal culture at the gateway.
But back to our farmers. They carefully manage the land and the environment - eking a living, in many cases employing people - to make sure there is fresh and healthy produce.
They have to account for every cent to survive in an increasingly leaner and efficiency-driven world. For their sake, let’s hope the government buybacks don’t become buyouts.