Mirabella condemns COAG water agreement

Sophie Mirabella, the Federal Member for Indi, has condemned the outcome of the talks on the Murray Darling Basin at today’s Council of Australian Governments (CoAG) meeting held in Adelaide.

“Today’s announcement means that the Rudd Labor Government will give financial support of $1 billion to Stage 2 of the Brumby Government’s Food Bowl Modernisation Project – something they explicitly said they would not do,” Mrs Mirabella said.

“The outcome of today’s talks means that the Rudd Labor Government is complicit in the actions of the Brumby Labor Government’s sinister plot to pipe water from the Goulburn system to Melbourne.”

“This is about patching up poor planning for urban water supplies and displays the utter disregard for the urban water supply of rural towns and the long-term sustainability of agriculture in north-east Victoria,” Mrs Mirabella said.

“Why not invest in the upgrade of irrigation infrastructure without the agricultural and social blackmail of diverting our water to Melbourne as the necessary precondition?”

“Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of this is the betrayal of our region from Environment Minister Peter Garrett. When he was asked about this matter in Parliament last month he said:

“The member sought a guarantee that no funds from the National Water Initiative would be diverted to a pipeline taking water from the Murray-Darling Basin to Melbourne. The Sugarloaf pipeline is fully funded by the Victorian government and, as such, the Commonwealth will not be contributing funds for the project.”

“Mr Brumby claimed that this will go down in history as an historic day. I am sure I am not the only one who disagrees with his lofty rhetoric. Mr Brumby and Mr Rudd have collaborated to sell our interests down the river,” Mrs Mirabella said.

“To put it simply, there is just not enough water in the Murray Darling Basin to meet our current needs – let alone factoring in Melbourne’s needs as well. This is a sneaky political fix to claw Mr Brumby out of the ridiculous political position in which he found himself.”

“Now Rudd Labor has joined Brumby Labor in the plot to rob our region’s water. They stand condemned,” Mrs Mirabella concluded.