Mond

Monday, 26 June 2006

MOKOAN: THWAITES BETRAYS IRRIGATORS

“Yet another act of betrayal”, are the words of Nationals Member for Benalla, Bill Sykes, when advised of the Minister for Water, John Thwaites’ most recent statements in relation to the decommissioning of Lake Mokoan.

Dr Sykes said, “Last week the Minister advised the Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) that the level of security of water for irrigators dependent on Lake Mokoan is to be 91%.

“The Minister has refused to honour an earlier commitment to an independent assessment of the level of security because he fears that the independent assessment will show current security to be nearer 97% as claimed by irrigators.

“The now disbanded Broken Systems Reliability Reference Committee believed that it would be difficult to find cost effective offsets to deliver 91% security and that 97% security could only be delivered if there was a mid stream storage, which the Government steadfastly refuses to consider, or the Government purchases thousands of mega litres of water thereby robbing the Benalla area of future wealth generation potential.”

Dr Sykes continued, “Mr Thwaites has also paved the way for significant rises in the cost of water to Broken River System irrigators as increased infrastructure and operating costs have to be spread over fewer irrigators.

“This has occurred after repeated assurances, over several years, to honour written commitments by Mr Thwaites and his predecessor, Sherryl Garbutt, to maintain current security of supply of water at a cost acceptable to irrigators.

“This act of betrayal comes as the Bracks Government is starting to realise that the cost blow-out from $60m to over $100m, as foreshadowed by me, is becoming a reality.

“After repeated refusals to acknowledge a cost blow-out, I have now received a letter from Mr Thwaites which paves the way for substantial cost increases.

“And as for community consultation – the newly recruited Consultative Committee will have two weeks lead time to comment on the Government’s intended offsets to meet water security before the offsets are made public.

“I’ll bet that all of the Government’s media propaganda on the offsets will be finalised before the Consultative Committee even sees the offsets – so this will be another classic example of ‘Clayton’s Consultation’.”

Dr Sykes concluded, “I again challenge the Bracks Government to support an independent assessment of current level of security of supply of water and to honour its promise to maintain current security of supply of water to Broken River System irrigators at a cost acceptable to irrigators”.

Media contact: Bill Sykes (03) 5762 2100 or 0427 624 989