Hansard debates

Gayle TIERNEY (Western Victoria – Minister for Skills and TAFE, Minister for Water) (12:36): I thank Ms Lovell for her question and the opportunity to talk about this. The position of the Victorian government is clear: we are absolutely opposed to buybacks. Buybacks are a significant issue for irrigators and for communities along the river. Essentially it is about an implementation that enables a very dysfunctional approach to what is considered to be just completely inappropriate. It will lead to greater inefficiencies in terms of the irrigation system, and it will also mean that the costs will be shifted to those that continue to be in the irrigation system, and of course that is why I have asked the Commonwealth to provide the work that they have done on the socio-economic impacts of the buybacks. I have also, along with the VFF, called for an immediate pause on the buybacks, because we believe together that a joint approach is the best approach, and we will continue to call for a pause on the buybacks, particularly given the issue of drought in this state.

This was an issue that I canvassed yesterday in the house and I will continue to canvass, and of course I will continue to prosecute this and have the support of the drought taskforce that the Premier has established. We will be meeting again this Friday, and again we will be pursuing not just what we have dealt with in the first meeting and the second meeting but also there will be further work that will be done on Friday to add to what needs to be done to mitigate the impacts of the drought that we are facing right across this state.