THREE public relations consultants with political connections have been shortlisted for a campaign to draw attention to the cost to the community of reducing water for farming in the Murray-Darling Basin.
Subscribe now for unlimited access to all our agricultural news
across the nation
or signup to continue reading
Kreab Gavin Anderson, CPR Communications and marketing strategist Toby Ralph have pitched to run the campaign on behalf of an alliance of farmers, banks, unions, small businesses, local governments and communities.
The hiring of a public relations consultant illustrates the organised resistance the government and the Murray-Darling Basin Authority face to government plans to purchase water to improve the environment in the basin, The Australian Financial Review reports.
In the five weeks since the authority proposed an average reduction in irrigation water of 27 to 37 per cent, it has faced an angry backlash.
The idea for an organised campaign arose out of a summit in Sydney in October that was convened by irrigator groups to marshal industries affected by the changes and organise a collective response. The summit resulted in the formation of the steering group, chaired by the Mayor of Greater Shepparton, Geoff Dobson.
