2.1 million Basin residents deserve answers

Another month, another version of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. So far we have had the Guide to the Proposed Basin Plan, the Proposed Basin Plan, the Revised Basin Plan, and today, the Altered Basin Plan. We know we are getting close now because we are running out of adjectives.

What the 2.1 million people who live in the Basin deserve is some reassurance and certainty. They haven’t been given that so far. The Labor government has presided over 4 versions of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan with probably a few more to come.

There is still a lot of work to do. The proposed adjustment mechanism remains vague, there is no limit to the amount of water buybacks that can occur and the 971 GL of unassigned water recovery hangs like a Sword of Damocles over many southern Basin communities.

In a time of economic uncertainty we must maintain a strong productive base. Regions must have an economy, not just in the present, but into the future. A sustainable economic future can only come from an economic base which produces wealth year after year, not from token infrastructure projects which will simply leave a maintenance bill once the capital investment activity finishes.

It is not politically incorrect to want Australians to be able to stay and continue to own Australian farms.

It has been a 5 year rolling fiasco from the Labor government that has killed confidence just when the rain of the last few years should be restoring hope.