New irrigation advocacy group formed

Northern Victorian Irrigators and Communities chair Dudley Bryant said the intention was to create a united representation of the irrigation groups in the southern basin to better advocate for those communities.

“We haven't had the outcomes we're looking for most of the time,” he said.

“It means when we do go and speak to government, we are representing all of the southern basin - not just Cobram.”

He said without a change in the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, irrigation communities faced inevitable collapse.

“A lot of these communities have been built on irrigated agriculture and they're not going to survive,” Mr Bryant said.

“We just want to see irrigated agriculture get the respect it deserves.”

Mr Bryant said the new organisation was a formalisation of the collaboration between these organisations seen at the rallies to Tocumwal and Canberra.

While funding and leadership of the new organisation is yet to be decided, he encouraged people to join their local irrigation group if they wanted to see a change in policy.

“People need to get behind it and join up,” he said.

“That's the only way we're going to affect government policy.

“The more people we can say we're representing, the more politicians will listen.”

Federal Water Minister Keith Pitt said existing organisations, such as the National Irrigators Council, National Farmers’ Federation, NSW Irrigators Council and Victorian Farmers Federation, already represented the interests of farmers, irrigators and the community in the Murray-Darling Basin.

“They engage constructively and forthrightly with the government in the best interest of their members and we are listening,” he said.

“Creating a new group will not magically make new water appear.

“As the recent Keelty report showed, there is no silver bullet to solving the very complex issues surrounding the management of the Murray-Darling Basin.”

He thanked the organisations who were "constructively" working with government during this "challenging time".