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Please explain? Knowles/Burke must come to us!
18-November-2011
The Federal Member for Farrer today called on Murray Darling Basin Authority Chair,
Craig Knowles, and Federal Water Minister, Tony Burke, to come to the NSW Murray and Riverina and “explain the impact of the latest Basin Plan with local communities face to face”.
cover up last year, that is the potential death sentence this imposes on small towns and communities in the south of NSW if the reforms go ahead unchecked”.
“This could kill off Deniliquin, Hay, Balranald, Barham, Wentworth and many other communities in Farrer. They may as well come down and put up the ‘for sale’ sign now”.
The report notes the removal of 2,800 gigalitres from Basin allocations ‘could result in a number of social changes, loss of population, change in community identity, increased mental health problems and higher demand for social services’.
From this, the NSW Irrigators Council predict state wide job losses of up to 15,000 people.
“Well I can tell you where the majority of those will come from, right here” Ms Ley said.
“Mr Knowles looked us in the eye in June and promised local community consultation with this Plan when it was released. Well he better hop on his bike and get down here real fast, because there is plenty of explaining to do.”
“He knows there are better ways to go about preserving the future integrity of the Murray Darling and I’m damned if Tony Burke, one eyed environmentalists, the Conservation Foundation or anyone else is going to kill us off without a fight”, Ms Ley concluded.