Murray-Darling Snub highlights Labor priorities
Local governments along the Murray River are right to be disappointed at Labor’s refusal to discuss the number one issue confronting many rural communities at COAG,” Sophie Mirabella, the Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government, said today.
“Before the election, the Labor Party claimed that ‘Urgent action is needed by all governments.’ We are now beginning to see Labor ‘change it all’ and decide that it is no longer urgent,” Mrs Mirabella said.
“If COAG discussion of water is delayed, it will allow Victorian Premier John Brumby to build a pipeline flushing water out of the Murray-Darling system for use in metropolitan Melbourne.”
“This pipeline represents a clear and present danger to water supplies throughout the basin, just days after the Bureau of Meteorology confirmed that water supplies were ‘severely stressed.’
Prior to the election, Anthony Albanese, the then-Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Water, said:
“If we don’t restore the health of our river systems as quickly as we can, then the communities, farmers and industries that rely on them will suffer grievously. Unless we act now, essential water supplies to Adelaide from the Murray River will be put seriously at risk.”
“Labor was correct then, when they supported the Coalition’s plan to urgently address the challenge of the Murray-Darling basin. Labor is now wrong to delay and procrastinate on the issue.”
“For the city-focused Labor Party, it is merely an abstract issue. For people living in rural Australia, it is a matter of their town’s survival and future growth.”
“When Labor were trying to harvest votes, their rhetoric was filled with urgency and importance. Now that the election is over, we are already seeing a very different face from Labor,” Mrs Mirabella said.
“Before the election, the Labor Party claimed that ‘Urgent action is needed by all governments.’ We are now beginning to see Labor ‘change it all’ and decide that it is no longer urgent,” Mrs Mirabella said.
“If COAG discussion of water is delayed, it will allow Victorian Premier John Brumby to build a pipeline flushing water out of the Murray-Darling system for use in metropolitan Melbourne.”
“This pipeline represents a clear and present danger to water supplies throughout the basin, just days after the Bureau of Meteorology confirmed that water supplies were ‘severely stressed.’
Prior to the election, Anthony Albanese, the then-Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Water, said:
“If we don’t restore the health of our river systems as quickly as we can, then the communities, farmers and industries that rely on them will suffer grievously. Unless we act now, essential water supplies to Adelaide from the Murray River will be put seriously at risk.”
“Labor was correct then, when they supported the Coalition’s plan to urgently address the challenge of the Murray-Darling basin. Labor is now wrong to delay and procrastinate on the issue.”
“For the city-focused Labor Party, it is merely an abstract issue. For people living in rural Australia, it is a matter of their town’s survival and future growth.”
“When Labor were trying to harvest votes, their rhetoric was filled with urgency and importance. Now that the election is over, we are already seeing a very different face from Labor,” Mrs Mirabella said.
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posted by Greg Naylor at
2:44 PM
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