23rd November 2006Frustrated Queensland irrigators are still waiting for the Qld Government to freeze charges on their water allocations.
Much of the water being charged for won’t be delivered because of the drought – it doesn’t exist, according to Queensland Country Life.
And AgForce Qld says irrigators in federally declared Exceptional Circumstances (EC) areas should not be forced to pay for water that in many cases they had not received for more than five years.
The agonising wait for information from new Natural Resources Minister, Craig Wallace, the paper says, comes a fortnight after written pleas for relief from the Qld Farmers Federation were made to Premier Peter Beattie.
The QFF urged the introduction of rebates for irrigators receiving less than 50pc of their entitlements.
QFF is pressing for an emergency plan, similar to that already adopted by the NSW and Victorian Labor Governments.
SOURCE: Extract from report to be published in Queensland Country Life, November 23.
