The Australian today reports on the real world economic effect of the Labor Government’s botched plan for the Murray-Darling Basin.
Sales data from the RP Data website shows that house prices across the Murray-Darling Basin have fallen by an average 10.5% in 20 towns since Labor released the Murray-Darling Basin Plan last October. Some towns have been hit harder than others, with St George down 37%, Forbes down 24%, Goondiwindi down 23%, Swan Hill down 18%, Narrabri down 14% and Griffith down 13%.
“The greatest risk in irrigation towns is not from Mother Nature but from your sovereign. The flood will come and the flood will go but the loss of water allocations will last forever” Senator Joyce, Shadow Minister for Water said today.
“When the irrigators sell their water licences they may move to the coast with their money. The people who are affected are those who never had a licence and are left behind. It is the nurse, the schoolteacher and the chemist, who moved to these towns and borrowed to buy a house, who loses out.”
“Imagine if government policy inflicted house price falls of 10 per cent in Sydney, there’d be a riot in the street.”
“The fact is that under the Water Act these outcomes are baked in the cake. Mike Taylor, Chairman of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, the Productivity Commission and Professor of Law George Williams, all agree that the environment must take precedence over social and economic factors under the existing Water Act.”
“While the government refuses to investigate the Water Act, they are refusing to help those left behind by their Basin Plan.”