The Coalition's $10b National Plan for Water Security has been destroyed and the environment and rural communities will be worse off after the COAG agreement, according to the Opposition's spokesman for water security, John Cobb.
Mr Cobb said yesterday's COAG agreement meant the Commonwealth was paying the Victorian Government $1 billion to pump 100 billion litres of water from the Goulburn River to Melbourne.
He said it was a "disaster" for the Murray Darling Basin.
"The Victorian Govenrment was always going to sign up to the Murray Darling Basin National Plan for Water Security once it had beeded down its own plan to take 100 gigalitres of water out of the MDB via a pipeline to augment Melbourne's water supply," Mr Cobb said.
"The Prime Minister's ignorance has resulted in Victoria gaining key concessions to the detriment of the management of the MDB."
Mr Cobb said it was "bizarre" that the Labor Party in Victoria was spending $750m of tax payer's money to pipe water out of the basin when the Federal Government had committed to spending $10 billion to increase flows in the Murray.
"To put it in simple terms - there is not enough water in the MDB to meet current needs, never mind Melbourne's needs as well."
SOURCE: Rural Press National News Service, Parliament House Bureau, Canberra.
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