mmg.com.au

Federal Water Minister Tony Burke won plaudits from an unexpected quarter when he visited Deniliquin last week.

The lobby group Murray Group of Concerned Communities has been strident in its opposition to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and has constantly pleaded with Mr Burke to get better acquainted with the impacts the plan will have on small basin towns that are reliant on irrigated agriculture and its spin-off economy.

But lobby group chairman Bruce Simpson congratulated Mr Burke for honouring a commitment he made during a firey MDBA consulation meeting, to return to Deniliquin and look at issues surrounding water delivery first-hand.

The minister accepted a public invitation by landholder Andrew Burge to visit his property, which borders Barmah-Millewa forest, to get a better understanding of how the Barmah Choke impedes downstream flows.

Mr Burke heard about the risks to both private property and the red gum forest if environmental water delivery is not carefully managed.

‘‘Mr Burke has shown that he did listen at the MDBA meeting in Deniliquin, he understood that we believe constraints are a real issue and he clearly made the decision that he needed to see it for himself,’’ Mr Simpson said.

Mr Simpson said the delivery constraints of the system were the reason why environmental works and measures were so important.

‘‘Infrastructure enables the effective delivery of water to environmental assets in a managed environment between the natural drought and flood events that Australia is famous for,’’ he said.

‘‘We just don’t see how the MDBA’s proposed target flows are possible without damaging private property and public infrastructure; and even then they will also require unregulated flows from tributaries that can’t be managed.

‘‘We shouldn’t be trying to play God.’’

Mr Burke also visited Colin and Lachlan Bull’s property near Conargo to view an On-Farm Irrigation Efficiency Project, a government program that allows water to be recovered for the environment while maintaining or improving on-farm productivity.

He also met people from representative groups and visited SunRice’s Deniliquin mill.

‘‘We commend the minister. He had a short amount of time but he endeavoured to make the most of it to try to understand the issues from our perspective — and that is appreciated,’’ Mr Simpson said.