“The Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) released yesterday shows the Labor party still does not get it on the Murray-Darling Basin,” Senator Barnaby Joyce said today.
MYEFO confirms that Labor will bring forward a further $250 million in water buybacks over the next two years. Labor also defers $450 million of investments in water infrastructure beyond 2014-15.
"When the Coalition put up the 10-point Howard-Turnbull plan we prioritised investments in water efficiency so that we could return water to the environment and to communities.
Instead, the Labor party continues to spend money ripping the economic rug out from underneath regional Australia without making the investments that could help communities adjust first.
They are already $700 million ahead on buybacks, but $350 million behind on infrastructure investments, compared to the original plan. The decision to defer a further $450 million in investments puts Labor further behind.
The Labor party has botched the Basin plan process. They released a plan before they'd looked at the socioeconomic impacts, they wrote an Act before they got legal advice and they are spending money on buybacks before they invest in communities.
Labor's failure to make the hard decisions to cut the waste means that regional Australia is in their sites. It is any wonder that Regional Australia is turning off Labor fast."