Sykes questions Thwaites on Mokoan

The decommissioning of Lake Mokoan was the subject of a number of questions put to Minister for Water, John Thwaites, by Member for Benalla, Bill Sykes in Parliament this week.

Dr Sykes who obtained leave from Parliament to attend the Mokoan Irrigator’s meeting earlier in the week requested that the Minister for Water meet a deputation of irrigators as passed unanimously at the Benalla meeting.

Dr Sykes highlighted to the Parliament the widely different costing for the irrigator’s proposal by DSE compared with Murrumbidgee Irrigation Ltd who proposed the alternative means of achieving water savings.

Dr Sykes said, “DSE say the dam wall for the irrigator’s proposal will cost $6 million per kilometre. This compares with less than $2 million per kilometre based on Murrumbidgee Irrigation Ltd experience with the recently completed, environmental award winning Barren Box Swamp Project and around $1.5 million from another independent contractors.

Dr Sykes asked in Parliament, “How can $6 million per kilometre be justified? Is someone on the take or is this another example of gross incompetence by the Bracks Government managing major projects using public money?

Another five questions were put in writing to the Minister by Dr Sykes covering issues including:-

- a request for an independent comparative assessment of the Government’s decommissioning option and the irrigator’s reconfiguration option;
- potential conflict of interests of the consultants being used by the Government to discredit the irrigator’s proposal.

Dr Sykes concluded, “The Minister can easily put this whole issue to rest by allowing the irrigators to work with Goulburn Murray Water engineers to thoroughly assess their reconfiguration proposal.

“The irrigators have agreed that if their proposal is shown to not deliver the required water savings at a reasonable cost then they will ‘back off’.

“Conversely, if the irrigator’s proposal ‘stacks up’, I would hope that the Minister would take it on as it would deliver a win/win/win situation for the Government, the local community and the environment.”

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VICHANSARD
Whole Speech (Daily Hansard - Proof Version Only)

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Title	Lake Mokoan: Justice for the Broken Valley group
House	ASSEMBLY
Activity	Adjournment
Members	SYKES
Date	15 March 2007
Page	65

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15 March 2007 ASSEMBLY

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Page 65

Lake Mokoan: Justice for the Broken Valley group

Dr SYKES (Benalla) -- I wish to raise an issue for the attention of the Minister for Water, Environment and Climate Change. I ask the minister to meet with a delegation from the Justice for the Broken Valley group and allow it to present to the minister its proposal for a reconfiguration of Lake Mokoan, a proposal which has strong community support and delivers the required water savings at less cost than the proposed total decommissioning of the lake.

Since the Victorian government announced its intention to decommission Lake Mokoan there has been intense debate over maintaining current security of supply of water to irrigators and establishing what is the current level of security of supply. There are also other concerns regarding flood risks to Benalla and the serious impact on the environment and Aboriginal sites of significance.

*** DAILY HANSARD *** PROOF VERSION ONLY *** DO NOT QUOTE ***

Broken Valley irrigators have engaged Murrumbidgee Irrigation Ltd to develop an alternative proposal for the reconfiguring of Lake Mokoan based on the recently completed, environmental award-winning Barren Box Swamp project. The Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) has rejected this alternative proposal, claiming that it will not deliver the required water savings and that its cost of less than $40 million is unrealistically low. The Broken Valley irrigators dispute both of these claims. In particular the irrigators cannot understand how DSE can justify a cost of $6 million per kilometre of dam wall when the Barren Box Swamp project costs were less than $2 million per kilometre of dam wall and a second independent contractor has quoted $1.5 million per kilometre of dam wall.

A serious question arises: how can $6 million per kilometre be justified? If someone on the take or is this another example of gross incompetence by the Bracks government in managing major projects, using public money?

I ask the minister to meet with the delegation and explain to the irrigators the costing of $6 million per kilometre of dam wall when the costing determined by the irrigators' independent assessments are $2 million per kilometre of dam wall or $1.5 million per kilometre of dam wall.

Earlier today I spoke of the pain being experienced by country Victorians as a result of the drought and fires. Broken Valley irrigators have been spared some of this pain because of the higher security of water available to them as a result of the presence of Lake Mokoan. However, the source of the pain for irrigators has been the challenge of trying to defend the retention of their current security of supply in the face of grossly misleading statements and positions adopted by a series of government departments. This anguish has taken its toll on the local community, and I ask the minister to immediately address this issue and ensure that he governs according to the government claim of governing for all Victorians.

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