Sharman Stone (Murray, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The National Food Plan green paper recently put out by Labor pays very little attention to irrigated agriculture and Australia's 40,000 irrigators. These farmers make the major contribution to food production and food security in the country. I was disappointed in the green paper and this omission in particular but not surprised. After all, this is the Gillard government, which has wilfully presided over the biggest transfer of water out of food and fibre production to a Commonwealth environmental water holder which has no science behind its water use intentions.

I am particularly concerned about the economic and community impacts of the Labor government's ongoing effort to buy back irrigation water in northern Victoria, but this is compounded by the maladministration and incompetence of the state-owned Goulburn-Murray Water authority as it tries to modernise the century-old irrigation system. The Victorian ombudsman has already reported his serious concerns about this maladministration and project delivery and has given all sorts of advice about what should be done. Unfortunately, that advice has not been followed through.

In 2002 the Goulburn-Murray Water authority managed over 1,640 gigalitres of high-security irrigation water on farms covering over 68,000 square kilometres and utilising over 6,300 kilometres of gravity-fed channels. More than 1,000 irrigators supported 52 great little towns and two cities. They generated the country's biggest regional transport sector, over 20 food factories and the biggest exports of milk products out of the country and supported icon brands like Heinz tomato sauce and Goulburn Valley preserved fruits. We had and still claim the very well deserved label of the food bowl of Australia.

However, by 2012, over 1,600 gigalitres of high-security irrigation water producing food had been reduced by 32 per cent to some 1,000 gigalitres. Some of this loss was due to farmers forced to sell their water downstream during the drought, but much of it was in response to the government choosing to enter the irrigators' market, offering tenders, distorting the water prices but pleasing the banks, which could then retire some debt.

The results of Tony Burke's most recent water tenders have not yet been announced but he again he targeted high-security water in the southern Murray-Darling.

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