Senator Joyce continues his tour through the Riverina today in Echuca and Shepparton, having visited the Lower Lakes, Berri, Renmark, Mildura, Dirranbandi, Deniliquin, Menindee, Griffith and Leeton over the past two months.
Senator Joyce noted that Senator Wong was reported in a Sydney paper yesterday stating “you can expect that everyone is going to feel some pain” in relation to water reform.
“I have definitely seen first hand the pain and distress facing many in the Basin from Senator Wong's poor and ad hoc implementation of water reform. But when I call my friends in Sydney or Cairns or Perth I don't think they’re feeling much pain from water reform in the Murray-Darling Basin.
“I recognise that change is always difficult but the elected officials of this nation have a responsibility to facilitate and ease the pressures of that change, particularly when policy actions are a key contributor to that change.
As the Productivity Commission said last month “there appears to have been insufficient forethought given to the design, scale and implementation of these initiatives.” But Senator Wong did not mention the Productivity Commission once in a major speech on water reform that she delivered yesterday.
“Senator Wong seems more preoccupied with using the Basin as a political plaything rather than treating it with the seriousness with which this major reform deserves,” Senator Joyce said.
“Perhaps if she came to the Basin to actually listen and understand the problems, rather than just use visits as a propaganda opportunity, she could improve her implementation of water reform.
“One of the main things that I have learnt on these visits is that we have got to stop trying to find “witches to burn” as an easy solution to our problems. Cubbie Station, the Lower Lakes and Menindee are often, in different contexts, held up as panaceas to all the Basin's problems.
“The truth is there are no easy solutions and playing the “blame game” is not going to help anyone.
“Senator Wong was guilty of this approach yesterday, when she tried to play the concerns of South Australia against the rest of the Basin.
“But to get the right balance for the Basin we have to listen to the knowledge and expertise of those closest to the Basin, and those that have the most invested in the future of the Basin.
“I have been humbled by the level of consideration that the people of the Basin have given to the issue. I thank everyone who has given their valuable time to impart that knowledge to me.”
“I fear though that Senator Wong and the Rudd Government are simply not listening and therefore not understanding the issues on the ground.