THE editorial opinion, Labor splashing about, in The Weekly Times (November 2) should be compulsory reading for all Australians.
It is a succinct and accurate summation of the present situation with the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, including the Albanese Government’s lack of regard for our rural and regional communities.
Water buybacks are so vehemently opposed by Victorian and NSW governments and regional communities because they have a proven record of destruction.
About a decade ago, then Water Minister Tony Burke promised our communities they would be protected during Basin Plan implementation, and this proved the most hollow promise imaginable. Fast forward to 2022 and Tanya Plibersek is the new Burke, and it seems her primary goal, in the opinion’s words, is to follow the Labor position and “asset strip regional Australia, so they can placate inner-urban voters, most of whom never visit the basin”.
Perhaps one day Burke, Plibersek and these urban voters will realise that farmers need water to grow food, and when it is not being grown the price they pay at the supermarket will increase.
The saddest fact is that we can have both a healthy basin and productive farmers, but the Albanese Government is too blinkered to realise it.
Shelley Scoullar
Chair
Speak Up
