01 Nov, 2012 04:00 AM
THE Victorian Government and irrigation stakeholders have attacked the Federal Government decision announced on Friday to return 3200 gigalitres of water to the Murray Darling Basin, saying it would put communities at risk of flood.
But in a strange development, Federal Water Minister Tony Burke has said the Basin Plan will go to Parliament this month with a 2750GL sustainable diversion limit (SDL), as the eastern Basin States had sought and agreed in July.
The statements smack of politics and the selling of different messages to different States – something Prime Minister Julia Gillard had criticised the Federal Coalit-ion for in the past week.
Mr Burke said the plan would return 2750GL of water to the environment by 2019, while 3200GL would be recovered by 2024 under shifts through the SDL adjustment mechanism, "provided there are no adverse socio-economic effects".
On Tuesday night, a Bill amending the Water Act passed through the House of Representatives after the Coalition supported an amendment which gave the Water Minister, rather than the Murray Darling Basin Authority, final say on adjustments to the SDL.
Victorian Water Minister Peter Walsh said he was "bitterly disappointed" with the decision to return 450GL more water to the environment than the Murray Darling Basin Authority's (MDBA) latest draft Plan had proposed.
Ms Gillard and Mr Burke, appearing with South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill on the Lower Lakes on Friday, announced they would spend an extra $1.77 billion over 10 years from 2014 to attempt to relax constraints and improve on-farm water savings.
Mr Walsh dismissed the decision as a "stunt" which the Victorian Government would not support as it would exchange an unacceptable risk of private land flooding for "marginal environmental outcomes".
"While SA Premier Jay Weatherill is crowing about this news, he is conveniently ignoring the fact that his preferred 3200GL Basin Plan will put river communities at risk of future devastating floods similar to those we experienced earlier this year and last year," Mr Walsh said.
No comments:
Post a Comment