‘I’ve given up’

JOHN Bisetto sat on his tractor in a field 20 kilometres north of Griffith yesterday and declared “I’ve given up on democracy”. 

He tuned out because the anger was rising. The second-generation farmer had listened to the government’s announcement of a further 450 gigalitres to be returned to the river system as part of an expanded Murray-Darling Basin Plan (MDBP). 

Mr Bisetto had just finished spraying his field of grapes and reflected on his future on the farm. 

“I have a boy and a girl, there is no way I’ll let them come on the farm,” he said. 

Mr Bisetto was just one Riverina resident to react to the news yesterday, and people on Griffith’s main street were “hostile”.

“Our area has the most to lose, people in other areas are probably breathing a sigh of relief because it’s not them,” Mr Bisetto said.

People in the Murrumbidgee Valley have rallied, written, protested and damned the Murray-Darling Basin Authority and federal Water Minister Tony Burke for a draft plan to return 2750 gigalitres to the system.

They have been most critical of non-strategic buybacks of water and urged greater investment in infrastructure.

Yesterday’s announcement to increase that figure to 3200 gigalitres wasn’t softened for residents by the additional $1.7 billion in infrastructure to go with it.

The federal government said the extra 450 gigalitres – nearly the capacity of Sydney Harbour – would come from “on-farm efficiencies”.

Any way you cut it, the people of Griffith and surrounding irrigation-dependent areas are furious.

Griffith Business Chamber president Paul Pierotti said just the uncertainty of the city’s future had massive implications.

“It’s been devastating, we’ve had record number of listings of houses for sale,” he said.

Irrigators in the region have long felt their concerns were falling on deaf ears, despite numerous public rallies, including one attended by Mr Burke.“There is no confidence in any of the sales and commercial sales have reduced by a minimum of 30 per cent and in some cases 50 per cent. And this is happening right now.”

“For the government to throw this at us on the eve of the basin plan being presented to Parliament is an insult to all of those who thought they were making progress towards a balanced solution,” said Murray Group of