The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) has been urged to be more active in monitoring the implementation of the Murray Darling Basin Plan.
VFF Laanecoorie delegate Ken Pattison told last week’s annual conference since Victorian Independent senator John Madigan lost his Parliamentary seat, no-one was looking out for farmers.
“The issues are major, complex and affecting large groups of our community,” Mr Pattison said.
Senator Madigan headed an inquiry into the plan, which released 32 recommendations for changes.
Mr Pattison said there was a major disconnect between government, government authorities, the Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) and the VFF.
“We are seeing billions of dollars of taxpayers funds being spent, which is dramatically affecting our whole society in the Murray Darling basin,” Mr Pattison said.
He moved a motion, which was passed, calling on the VFF to be proactive in monitoring the implementation of the plan. “A lot of the policies behind this are there now and will enable the organisation to carry these issues forward, as we no longer have a dedicated member of parliament, trying to resolve these issues,” he said.
Stanhope farmer and irrigator Alison Couston said the economic, social and environmental effects of the plan needed to be addressed.
“You have a whole family of farms in Victoria, and someone has smacked them in the head, they have kicked them in the guts and they have their foot on their neck, that’s what we are looking at here,” Ms Couston said.
“The Senate inquiry listened to the people, they were one of the first groups to do so, because the VFF didn’t listen.”
She called on the VFF to give irrigators a voice.