A coalition of Labor and The Greens announced they have banded together to betray regional communities by taking more water out of food and fibre production.
The agreement reached also removes the last remaining protections for communities by removing the cap on water buybacks and removing the socio-economic impact test.
“This is a total betrayal of regional communities by a Government that promised no one would be left behind,” Senator Davey said.
“The deal with the Greens shows us who is really controlling water policy in this country, and it’s not Tanya Plibersek.
“The Opposition was negotiating in good faith with the Government to come to a deal that struck a balance between the environment and communities.
“We have always stayed firm to the agreement reached with Labor’s Tony Burke in 2012 to have social and economic impacts tested against water recovery, and if the impact was negative, the project could not proceed.
“Today represents an abandonment of the long-standing bipartisan commitment to the Basin Plan.
“By removing that test, the Minister has admitted that buybacks will cause social and economic harm to basin communities, but she doesn’t care.
“When you take water away from farming communities, we all pay the price.”
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