State Member for Shepparton, Jeanette Powell, today slammed the Brumby Government over its recent move to raid environmental flows and divert them to Melbourne via the north-south pipeline.
Mrs Powell said the Coalition blocked parts of the Bulk Entitlement (Eildon-Goulburn Weir) Conversion Amending Order 2009 in Parliament last year because the government breached commitments it had made to the environment, food producers and Victorian communities.
“The water savings which the government promised would be available for the north-south pipeline have not materialised,” Mrs Powell said.
“The fact that the Brumby government is taking water from the environment for the north-south pipeline shows their figures on water savings were always wrong.
“The Brumby government is also breaching its commitment that all savings from stage 2 of the Modernisation Project would be split 50/50 between the environment and food producers.
“What is worse is the fact that Melbourne may never need water from the pipeline as the city's dams have almost enough water sitting in them today to last until the start of desalination in two years time.
“Melbourne doesn’t need to pipe water, a better use would be to keep it in Lake Eildon, where it could be used to fight algal blooms or give more water to struggling farmers.
“Irrigators in the Goulburn Valley are expected to pay for 100% of their water allocations but are again only receiving a portion of their entitlements,” Mrs Powell said.
“The Premier is arrogantly pushing ahead with this pipeline even though there is simply no need to pump water to Melbourne.
“Any water saved for environmental flows should stay in the region,” Mrs Powell said.
Media contact: Jeanette Powell (03) 5831 6944
