Farmers, stakeholders furious with water buyback meetings

Opposition to the buybacks is widespread in the Deniliquin area due to the forecasted negative impact the purchase of 10 Gl from the NSW Murray catchment will have on regional communities.

Two meetings were held in Deniliquin on Wednesday, March 8 at the Intereach Community Centre, with 12 community members attending each.

Many of the attendees described the consultations as being secretive in order to fast-track the water buybacks.

Wakool Rivers Association chair John Lolicato said the consultation process was the best example of “a breakdown in representative structure”.

“I can be voted out of my position if I make bad decisions because I am answerable to people for those decisions,” Mr Lolicato said.

“The people who convene these meetings cannot, and yet all we do is expose their inadequacies.

“They do all this because they realise that they will never win their arguments with us.”

The Murray-Darling Basin Authority is yet to meet the 2024 target of supplying South Australia with 450 Gl of water per year, a key component of the Water Act designed to protect the estuaries of the Murray River.

Critics argue that the non-transparency of the current consultative process is to help fast-track the reaching of the 450 Gl target without local opposition.

Both Deniliquin meetings were announced only 48 hours prior to their convening and were limited to invited guests, with the location announced the evening before.

Country News and other media were not allowed to attend the meetings.

Independent candidate for the state seat of Murray at the upcoming NSW election, David Landini, described the meeting as one-sided.

“They said it was to be consultative but there was no consultation,” Mr Landini said.

“It was tick-a-box for the government.

“I have a bit of criticism that community leaders were not invited.

“The environment is a mere front dressing for what is a political reality, not an environmental solution.”

NSW State Member for Murray Helen Dalton labelled the meetings as “disgraceful and deceptive”.

“The government couldn’t even be transparent in the naming of the meeting, there is not a mention of buybacks anywhere — it is deceptive and sneaky,” Mrs Dalton said.

Federal Shadow Water Minister Perin Davey was also heavily critical of the lack of transparency.

“The sessions have not been publicly advertised on the departmental website and (there was) zero contact with stakeholders,” Senator Davey said in the Senate on March 7.

“We should be getting used to this government failing to live up to its promises and none more so than on water.”

Finley sheep farmer Andrew Hermiston said he was “absolutely furious” with the late notice of the meeting.

“I’m disgusted; they’re like snakes in the grass,” Mr Hermiston said.

“The local paper was not even invited; it wasn’t even in the Murray Irrigation newsletter.

“I just happened to hear about it on the radio.”

Mr Hermiston said his concerns went beyond just the impact on his farm.

“Down the track when water has left the area and therefore less water will be going through Murray Irrigation’s books, it will affect me directly,” he said.

“The small family farm will not be able to afford water, but I am also concerned about the community and survival of shops and businesses, and yet stakeholders who represent the community were not invited to this meeting.

“The whole concept needs to be revisited but no-one is game because of the deal done with South Australia.

“No-one is prepared to say: ‘it’s not feasible’.”

Mr Lolicato said concerns of the effect of buybacks on the local community were being ignored.

“I’ve had a gutful of this; we’ve been saying the same thing for five years, that it will upset the social fabric of our community,” he said.

“So when they come out and throw a few acronyms around it’s because they can’t afford the type of scrutiny we give them because all we do is expose their inadequacies.

“Their strategy is to divide and conquer.”