Ricegrowers’ welcome Basin Plan extension

President of the Ricegrowers' Association (RGA), Peter Herrmann is pleased with the announcement made by Minister Tanya Plibersek to pursue an extension of time for the Basin Plan.

“Time is the only way to ensure good water saving projects can complete, and communities aren’t punished. An extension of time will allow everyone to take a deep breath and I thank the Minister for that foresight.

“Those who don’t care about balanced results forget the importance Basin irrigation plays in national food security, regional employment, and sustainable production in a currently unstable global supply chain.

“In the early years of the Plan, many irrigators coming out of the devastating Millenium Drought were taken advantage of by callous buy-backs. Consequently, it was necessary to put in-place community protections to ensure that level of devastation would never be repeated.

“As such, we won’t support anything that re-exposes our communities to those same historical risks, especially from buy-backs. Existing social and economic protections in the Water Act came about by collective agreement of Basin Ministers. They are reasonable and ought not be loosened in any way.

“Talking of the Plan’s implementation being ‘sabotaged’ is unhelpful. The Plan can be finished without destroying productive communities. Reform will be enduring when dealing with people and communities on the ground who live the reality of this every day. Continued bipartisan political support should be the only way forward. 

“The RGA doesn’t support buy-backs and we don’t believe they are needed to complete the Plan”

For media enquiries contact:
Pip Connolly | Communications Manager
0488 071 165 pconnolly@rga.org.au