Irritated Irrigators

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By Dwain Duxson

Irritated Irrigators - We had some good replies about our Irrigators are Irrigating story last week. Read it here. One Farmer from the Riverina (NSW) gave me a call and said the new Water Amendment Bill (if passed) would send the industry and the communities backwards.

It will allow the Government to buy back productive Water for the environment. So, with the potential to add 450GL (600GL of real Water, I'm told). This will bring it up to 1000GL of real Water, which is equivalent to 1 million tonnes of Rice a year at $400 a tonne Farm Gate price or billions of litres of milk in Dairy terms. He went on to say that since Water reforms, Dairy numbers in the Finley/Deniliquin (NSW) areas have dropped from 130 to less than 20. 

Most of the water buybacks will come from the Southern basin, so Vic, SA and Southern NSW will be most affected. He added that the Farmers who sell their Water will be fine, but the Farmers left will need to fund all the remaining infrastructure. Businesses and Communities will need to downsize due to lost production. He went on to say that moving Water is moving wealth. Wherever the Water goes, so does the wealth. This is the complete opposite of when our forefathers built the Dams to conserve Water and secure the nation's food supply. 

Once again, it's Governments making decisions without understanding the ramifications to people's lives and livelihoods. All to appease the minority, who would have never had mud on their boots. Reply to dwaind@farmtender.com.au.

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