A southern New South Wales irrigator lobby group has described as “pitiful” the compensation offered to two shires in the north of the state, over the damage it said was caused by water policy.
Two shires in northern NSW were allocated a total of $2 million federal government funding, to help strengthen their retail and tourism sectors.
But the allocations are being questioned by Deniboota Landholders Association chairman Alastair Starritt, who said communities were being hit with significant economic and job losses.
The government was refusing to either effectively compensate, or work with them, to rebuild prosperity and confidence.
Mr Starritt said much of the economic pain was unnecessary and could be avoided, if a more common sense approach was taken to delivering the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
“In the Northern Basin, job losses in some communities have been estimated at as much as 30 per cent under the Basin Plan,” Mr Starritt said.
“In the Southern Basin it’s even worse – a net job loss of 2,000 in the Goulburn Murray region of Victoria, according to an independent assessment.
“Yet across the entire Basin, there is a little over $70 million to help communities recover.”
He said a few million dollars of compensation, offered by the federal government, was “not good enough. “The Goulburn Valley report indicated production losses in the billions, and the government wants to compensate with a few million.” he said.
He said the economic restructure funds being delivered as part of the Basin Plan were put into clear perspective, when compared to government support, in the Latrobe Valley following the controversial closure of Hazelwood power station.
“The combined state and federal government compensation packages announced so far have totalled $83 million.”
Federal water minister Barnaby Joyce has been contacted for comment.
