12th January 2007A Queensland Government plan to create new irrigation licences in the south west of the State has prompted an outcry from the drought-parched southern areas of the Murray Darling Basin.
And it has prompted Federal Parliamentary Secretary Water, Malcolm Turnbull, to instigate a National Water Commission Inquiry into whether the proposal breaches the National Water Initiative.
The Queensland Government is planning to auction new irrigation licences to farmers on the Warrego River near Charleville.
The ephemeral river is often dry, but has been known to flood Charleville during big wets.
As such, the new licences will only allow for extraction of eight gigalitres of water for irrigation during high-flow periods.
But Mr Turnbull says the public concerns about of the idea – given its timing during the worst drought on record when southern irrigators are facing severe cutbacks – are valid and should be looked into.
“I’ve asked the NWC to look into it, talk to the Queenslanders and come back to me with a report,” Mr Turnbull said.
But Mr Turnbull has acknowledged the Warrego River currently has only 2pc of its flows allocated to agriculture.
SOURCE: Rural Press National News Bureau, Parliament House, Canberra.
