2018-02-13
The Australian Greens have reaffirmed their commitment to the survival of the Murray Darling Basin, calling on crossbenchers and Labor to hold the line against threats from upstream states amid new scandalous information that further undermines the Murray Darling Basin Plan.
“The reports today that the former Environmental Water Holder raised concerns that taxpayers’ money wasn’t going to where it should have been are harrowing and plunge the Murray Darling Basin Plan scandals to new depths. If taxpayers were paying for a regional rail line to be built and we went out to see how work was going, only to find no rail lines in sight, heads would roll,” Greens Murray Darling Basin spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.
“There must be an independent audit into where taxpayers’ money has gone and where the water is going, urgently.
“This is beyond pathetic. The Government wants to rip even more water out of the river to hand over to their greedy corporate irrigator mates and the Victorian and New South Wales Governments are holding South Australia and the river to ransom.
“It’s more than a battle between states. This is a battle between vested interests ruling the minds of water ministers while the environment suffers. The message we’re hearing from river communities across the Basin is clear: this disallowance must go ahead and the rorting, the water theft, and the corruption must end.
“The Plan is being undermined by dodgy figures and greedy corporate irrigators, not a motion that ensures the river gets the water it deserves. I urge all South Australian Senators to stand strong on the Murray and support The Greens’ disallowance.”