Agriculture
30 October, 2023
Buybacks would deplete local pool: Straub
LODDON irrigators had no appetite to accept Federal Government buybacks of water, said Mayor Dan Straub. Cr Straub was among Murray River Group of Council members who met in Echuca last Friday as part of the group’s #PushbackBuybacks campaign. Cr...
LODDON irrigators had no appetite to accept Federal Government buybacks of water, said Mayor Dan Straub.
Cr Straub was among Murray River Group of Council members who met in Echuca last Friday as part of the group’s #PushbackBuybacks campaign.
Cr Straub told Tuesday’s Loddon council meeting that any buybacks would deplete the pool of consumption irrigation water in the district.
He said group members had raised their concerns with Victorian crossbench senator David Van in Echuca last week.
Group chairman Rob Amos said: ““The Murray River Group of Councils appreciates Senator Van taking the time to visit our region to talk with our community about what’s at stake.
“It is only through talking and listening to the people water buybacks will directly impact that the gravity of their potential reintroduction can really be understood.
“We are not only against the Australian Government reintroducing water buybacks. We are also against the government’s proposal to remove the socio-economic impact test from the Basin Plan implementation. It is akin to turning a blind eye to the broader social and economic consequences that buybacks can have on communities.
“Last time we had water buybacks, there was a 28 per cent decrease in milk production, which contributed to the closure of a milk processing plant, we lost 1600 jobs across the wider economy and some local sports clubs became no longer viable because water buybacks caused people to leave the area. We can’t let that happen again,” Cr Amos said.