Question: What happens when a cash strapped farmer with years of experiences meets government bureaucrat with $50 million in cash but no experience? Answer – the farmer leaves with the money and the bureaucrat leaves with the experience.
Cash strapped drought stricken struggling irrigators have improved their financial position by selling zero allocation water licenses to the government.
Federal Water Minister Penny Wong’s department for has spent $50million tax payers dollars buying zero allocation water irrigation licenses that will return just 10 mega litres of water to the Murray Darling river system – thats just 10 olympic sized swimming pools compared to the promised 23,000 megs.
The department bought the licences because they were cheap. Buying secure water licenses (which would actually return water to the river) would have cost the department $2,300 – $2,500 a meg. General security Licenses (that would only return water to the river when it is full anyway) are just $500 – $600 a meg because the only time they are of any (water) value is when there is huge amounts of water in the river systems.
Federal Opposition water spokesman John Cobb said the Government had bought water from places where it had no chance of being returned to the Murray. He said 40 per cent of the water the federal Government bought was in the Lachlan, Macquarie and Gwydir rivers.
Even in a good year, the Lachlan doesn’t join up (to the Murray River system), so write that off for a start, he said.
Anything in the north isn’t going to get there. They obviously bought the cheapest water they could buy without caring where it came from.
They didn’t buy water, they bought airspace in dams.
Senator Wong has spent $50m of tax payers money for zero result. This is the Senator that Labor touts as one of it’s best and brightest.
Score Card – Whiley farmers +$50m, Government 0/0, Environment 0/0, Tax Payers – $50m.
Honestly how incompetent is this government?
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Tags: John Cobb, Murray Darling, Penny Wong, Water
