Media Releases

In Parliament last week Member for Swan Hill, Peter Walsh, condemned Prime Minister Julia Gillard for undermining the independence and integrity of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority.
“Julia Gillard has obviously seen the draft of the Murray-Darling Basin plan and in particular the amount of water that will be taken from food-producing communities,” Mr Walsh said.
“How else could she have been able to determine what will be required and be able to commit to fully accepting recommendations for buyback promises made in the draft report on the river system?
“She has demonstrated just how irresponsible she is by not conducting any socio-economic study of the impact on communities of this buyback before fully committing herself through her blatant vote buying exercise.
“The people most affected by the plan have not had an opportunity to see it because the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, believing itself to be an independent body, felt that it would be inappropriate to release it when the commonwealth government is in caretaker mode.
“And yet, now we see the Prime Minister of Australia playing electoral politics with it.
“Prime Minister Gillard and the Australian Labor Party have no understanding of or care for those who live outside the capital cities of Australia and should be condemned for playing politics with the lives of food producers directed affected by the report.
“The Prime Minister must release the plan immediately so that everyone can see what it says and the impact it is going to have,” Mr Walsh said.