THE federal Water Minister has been accused of an "ideologically hate" for the regions, following revelations the government diverted the money from cancelled dam projects to create a secret water buyback fund.
Labor cut $4.7 billion in water infrastructure in the recent budget, while committing an undisclosed figure towards meeting the 450 gigalitres environmental water target under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, which includes a pool of money for buybacks.
Water Minister Tanya Plibersek revealed the two budget decisions were linked.
"Some of the money that has been set aside in the 'not for publication line' has come from the cancellation of a couple of dam projects and the re-profiling or the delay of some other dam projects as well," Ms Plibersek told the ABC.
Nationals leader David Littleproud accused the Water Minister of an "ideologically hate" for the regions that was "getting in the road of common sense".
"This is just nasty stuff, she has a visceral hatred for regional Australia and she's letting it get in the way of good policy," Mr Littleproud said.
"There are commonsense solutions to complete the basin plan - 80 per cent of it is finished, the last 20 per cent can be done with technology and infrastructure, without taking water away from agriculture."
The basin plan's environmental water goals and dams for water security were not mutually exclusive, Mr Littleproud said, and should be treated in isolation.
"These are separate issues, they're not linked at all, why are they taking away the future for those regional places that can build environmentally-sensitive dams?" the Nationals leaders said.
Ms Plibersek said she wasn't going to take a lecture on water policy from the Nationals, after a "decade of failure".
"The Nationals promised 100 dams but delivered just two...Mr Littleproud can say what he likes about me, I'm focused on fixing the National Party's water policy mess," she said.
"Since becoming Minister I've contracted more water towards the 450 than the Nationals delivered in nine years. And I've just committed over $2 billion in water infrastructure in the Budget - including for town water supply projects and irrigation."
Although the undisclosed funding could be used for voluntary buybacks, it is also pegged for infrastructure and water efficiency projects.
Along with cancelling two Queensland dams, the government also deferred $900m in funding for several projects - including Dungowan and Wyangala dams in NSW - which will be revisited pending the results of their business cases.
NSW Deputy Premier Paul Toole said rather than investing in infrastructure to secure the long-term future of regional communities, the Commonwealth had thrown them into uncertainty with "an unknown quantum of funds and scant detail on how it will be spent".
"Labor has decided this is the perfect time to kick them yet again with the prospect of buybacks," Mr Toole said.
"This budget was a golden opportunity for Labor to show it is serious about investing in the regions to help build a brighter future - and it has failed dismally."
Jamieson Murphy
Newcastle Herald news director and business reporter. Interested in any and all yarns. Whisper g'day mate to me at jamieson.murphy@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Newcastle Herald news director and business reporter. Interested in any and all yarns. Whisper g'day mate to me at jamieson.murphy@austcommunitymedia.com.au
