The Federal Government has urged regional communities to “take a breath” and acknowledge there will be extensive consultation over proposals to fix the ailing Murray-Darling River system.
The Murray-Darling Basin Authority has released a guide to its draft plan, recommending cuts to water allocations of up to 45 per cent in some areas.
Farmers say if that happens, jobs will go, some industries will be threatened and the price of food will skyrocket.
But Federal Water Minister Tony Burke says it is too early to make those assumptions and he has guaranteed the authority will conduct an independent consultation process.
“They’re going from catchment to catchment, community to community, town to town,” he said.
‘In doing so, they’re giving people a chance to tell them directly what issues in the guide to the draft of a plan need to be taken into account that they don’t believe have been adequately taken into account yet.”
The Minister has stressed there will be a long period of consultation ahead, during which people can raise their concerns.
“The key message that I wanted to put forward today is for us all to take a bit of a breath on this and acknowledge we’re at the beginning of a period of consultation,” he said.
“There are a whole lot of issues to take into account and it won’t be towards the end of next year until we’re actually in a situation of looking at a new plan for the Murray-Darling Basin.”
And Mr Burke has assured no one will be forced to sell their water entitlements.
