The Brumby Government must release the details of the secret water deal it struck yesterday with the Commonwealth and other Murray Darling Basin states and territories, Shadow Minister for Country Water Resources and Deputy Leader of The Nationals Peter Walsh said today.
Mr Walsh said the Water Management Partnership Agreement, which outlines the terms under which the Commonwealth has agreed to fund state-based water saving projects, was signed behind closed doors. "Regional Victoria has again been left in the dark by the Brumby Government," Mr Walsh said. "The future of Victoria’s northern regions relies on water yet the Brumby Government is off signing secret deals so there can be no opposition to its plans. "This agreement supposedly sets out the terms under which the Commonwealth agreed to fund irrigation infrastructure upgrades in northern Victoria, including the Food Bowl Modernisation Project. "Victorians, particularly food producing communities, have a right to know the exact detail of what the Commonwealth was promised in return for that funding." Mr Walsh said the Victorian Liberal Nationals Coalition had lodged a freedom of information request with both the Department of Sustainability and Environment and the Commonwealth Government seeking the details of the arrangement. "The Brumby Government has refused to release the documentation and objected to the release of the documents held by the Commonwealth. "Premier Brumby has played every trick in the book to prevent the information about the arrangement he has struck from coming out in the public arena. "We have been led to believe the Brumby Government has guaranteed the Commonwealth the first 100 billion litres from Food Bowl Stage 2, contrary to what the government has been telling irrigators. "The level of secrecy surrounding these deals is only serving to cement our suspicions that the Brumby Government has sold irrigators down the drain." Mr Walsh said Premier Brumby promised that any savings to be made from the second round of irrigation upgrades would be split equally between irrigators and the Commonwealth from the very beginning. "It is incumbent upon Premier John Brumby and Water Minister Tim Holding to release the true details of the deal it has made with the Commonwealth. "Victorians deserve to know the truth," Mr Walsh said.
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