15th February 2007Queensland and South Australia say they will hold out for a five-year review as a condition for accepting a $10 billion commonwealth plan for the Murray-Darling river system.
Premiers Peter Beattie and Mike Rann met in Brisbane on Wednesday to discuss the plan before they meet Prime Minister John Howard and the premiers of NSW and Victoria and the ACT chief minister next Friday for a second round of water talks.
Last week, the states failed to reach agreement with Mr Howard over his proposal to take over the Murray-Darling basin.
The premiers said the funding was inadequate and the package was put together too quickly.
NSW Premier Morris Iemma, who has already agreed to cede his state’s powers over the rivers to the commonwealth, said he would maintain his support for the package.
But Mr Beattie and Mr Rann were talking tough, saying there were a number of key matters which needed to be settled before they would accept the plan.
“I endorsed the view by the South Australian Premier that whatever agreement reached with the Commonwealth should have a reviewable time,” Mr Beattie said.
“For example, let’s put it in place for five years and then let’s review it,” he said.
Mr Beattie said an independent body of experts should manage the water resource and there should be no “crazy bureaucracy” involved at either a State or a Federal level.
He also said the distribution of the $10B should be “equitable”.
Mr Rann said it was “important for Peter Beattie and I and other premiers to take a stand on issues that were fundamentally important for our states and fundamentally important for the health of the river”.
But the states do not yet have enough detail of the plan, he said.
“My view is you should not have a constitutional takeover for something as important as the River Murray costing $10.5B which was worked out on the back of an envelope,” Mr Rann said.
SOURCE: AAP and FarmOnline.
