Water policy
Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (13:45): On Monday morning the streets of Shepparton came to a standstill as hundreds of tractors and trucks of all sizes filed through the CBD in protest of the federal government’s water buyback. Over 2100 gigalitres of water, the equivalent of more than four Sydney Harbours, has already been removed from food production and returned to environmental flows, and now the federal Labor government plans to take a further 750 gigalitres, or 1½ Sydney Harbours, by way of buybacks from food-producing farmers. Food needs water, and less water will mean less food, more food imports and higher grocery prices. I was proud to participate in the rally and stand with our local food producers to demand the federal government abandon this lazy, damaging and dumb policy.