‘About much more than just the farmers’

Among the delegation were Member for Farrer and Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley, Nationals Leader David Littleproud, Nationals Water Spokesperson Perin Davey and representatives of numerous farming organisations including National Farmers Federation, National Irrigators Council and NSW Irrigators Council.

The following is a snapshot of comments from individuals at the media conference:

Member for Farrer Sussan Ley:

This is a dog act by this government, a dog act by a Prime Minister who said he would leave no-one behind. With us today are all of the representatives from the Murray- Darling Basin, a million square kilometres, we have come together as Members of Parliament with commodity groups in an emergency setting to call on Tanya Plibersek as the Water Minister, a Water Minister who never leaves her inner Sydney refuge and comes out into the real world of the basin. A Prime Minister who spends all of his time sneering, jeering and pointing the finger and never engaging with the rural and regional communities that make up the fabric of our nation. We are all here, and we are up for this fight, because we know that if Australians lose access to the pure, honest homegrown commodities of citrus, table grapes, apples, pears, rice, irrigated wheat and cereals, so much sustainable cotton that is grown in the Murray Darling Basin, it will put up the cost of living.

Deniliquin-based Nationals’ Senator and Coalition Water Spokesperson Perin Davey:

This bill has implications for our economy, and for the cost of living. This is about much more than just the farmers … it’s about every single one of the industries that’s here represented today. Be it citrus, be it dairy, be it cotton, be it wine grapes, or table grapes, every single one of them will be impacted, and that has the potential to impact on the cost to consumers throughout Australia. More importantly for us today, it’s that you can hear from industry and the commodity groups who are very concerned about what this bill means for their members, and more importantly for Australians. We’re talking about a dairy industry that would be decimated, the rice industry that would be decimated. The jobs that leave our communities, their families leave our towns, their kids leave our schools, suddenly we don’t need as many teachers, nurses, doctors. It is a rot that starts from the outside in. This is not just about farmers, this is about the life and breath of our Murray-Darling Basin communities.

Nationals Leader David Littleproud:

This is nasty policy. Tanya Plibersek has unleashed trauma across the basin. But she is unleashing another wave of cost of living pressure across Australia … every Australian will pay for this. You are talking about millions of fruit trees that will need to be ripped out and will not be able to be watered. Nut trees that are gone, and if you think your grocery bill’s dear now, wait until this comes to fruition. It is time for this government to show leadership and what Anthony Albanese said when he took over as Prime Minister is that he would govern for every Australian. Well the men and women up and down the Murray-Darling Basin don’t feel as though they’re part of a modern Australia and have Prime Minister that’s listening to them. It’s time for Anthony Albanese to override Tanya Plibersek, to go and engage with communities to understand not just the impact on them, but the impact on the cost of living pressures that Australians are feeling around the country.

Tony Mahar, Chief Executive of the National Farmers Federation:

What this government is doing is demonstrating it is disenfranchising the states, the farming communities and the rural and regional communities. This is an incredibly complex agreement. The government called for options to look at efficiencies in the system. Those papers, those documents are sitting somewhere on Minister Plibersek’s desk, they have not been reviewed. She is ploughing ahead with this, misquoting farmers on the floor of Parliament, misrepresenting what farmers have said. The National Farmers’ Federation and all of the industry groups here today, we want this plan supported, what we don’t want is for it to be destroyed. That is what’s happening at the moment.

Nathan Hancock, CEO of Citrus Australia:

The announcements by Minister Plibersek undermines the plan and the future of farmers and communities across the Murray Darling Basin. They are going to drive up prices and I can see many growers needing to leave the land because of these changes. Buybacks have already achieved what they were set out to do. There are other mechanisms that the government should be calling on to achieve the limits that it’s set, and we stand united in our approach to pushing back on this, and we want to see it thrown out and new plans put in place.

Michael Murray, General Manager of Cotton Australia:

What this bill does is bring back buybacks front and centre, and we only need to revisit communities that were devastated by buybacks in the last round. So visit the towns of Wakool, Wee Waa, Collarenebri, Bourke, Dirranbandi, St George; those small towns are the ones that are really paying the cost. And a lot of water has been recovered, and put to very good use. This is not about water volumes anymore. There are smarter ways. There are investments in infrastructure, ways of actually helping our environment, dealing with European carp, dealing with cold water pollution, improving fish passage, there is a better way without devastating our communities.

Trevor Ranford, Summer Fruit Australia Ltd:

I’ve got growers from Stanthorpe in Queensland through to Adelaide Hills in South Australia, they are right across the basin, and as an industry they’ve suffered badly from COVID, cost of production, lack of labour. This proposed bill will only add additional pressures to my growers. Ultimately the cost of production will go up. If growers start to push out or continue to push out trees, you will see fruit coming in from Chile, South Africa, New Zealand in the same seasonal aspects as Australia. So it’s highly important that we overcome this problem and minimise that cost of production which will affect the cost of living within Australia.

Peter Arkell, CEO NSW Farmers:

There is immense stress in communities across the basin. Commodity prices, water pressure and trade interruptions, have continued to compound pressures on these communities. It’s farmers, school teachers, the local footy clubs. And what’s happened in Canberra this week is another example of governments doing things to regional and farming communities, rather than with them. The ideas are on the Minister’s desk around how we can move this plan forward in a way that delivers for the environment, grows our agricultural industries, and keeps fresh food affordable for Australian families. Those ideas have been put in the bin and they’re cracking on with buybacks. This is the wrong approach and farmers stand ready to take the government on, on this critical issue.

Tony Pasin, South Australian farmer:

I’m from South Australia, and I just wanted to make the point that we’re all here as farmers united right across the basin. Buybacks kill communities and this will devastate regional communities. This is an existential threat. If you want to know what Labor think about our communities, the Senate committee is going to take hearings in Canberra, not in Deniliquin, Griffith, Shepparton, Mildura or Renmark; in Canberra. It says everything about this government. Us on the other hand, we’re going to go out to these communities, we’re going to listen to them, and we’re going to make sure the people of Australia understand the real world consequences of this decision.