Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Sussan Ley, appeared on Flow's Country Viewpoint program this week to discuss the latest water buybacks situation in relation to the government's stance on the Murray Darling Basin Plan.
Ley asserted on the program that the government was adding needless pressure on farmers who are already experiencing strong challenges due to dry conditions they are working under.
"I know our farmers work incredibly hard and irrigation is a difficult game, it's a challenging game and it's one where farmers invest a lot both on farm and off farm in terms of infrastructure and their future, so it has to be prosperous and it has to work long term and unfortunately what this government has done is turn the whole Murray-Darling Basin plans on its head," Ley said.
"Bipartisanship has gone out the window, the plan is effectively being rewritten and all of us who live in the basin absolutely hate it, which is why I am on the same page with my colleagues in South Australia and Queensland and Victoria, and I'm very, very disappointed in the New South Wales Labor government for not fighting harder for its farmers in this area."
"It doesn't matter where you are in the basin, this is bad news, this is about a government who doesn't recognise the value in growing food, the value in adding value to that food and providing jobs and working hard for communities in rural and regional Australia, something we all know well because this is where we live and this is the part of Australia we love and this is where we raise our families but it might as well be the other side of the moon to this Labor government."
Ley went on to illustrate that the hardships for farmers as a result of the latest developments in Canberra is a real issue and that it would be regrettable to see the buybacks situation continuing to develop into a political hot potato.
"I don't want any of this sort of rearing its ugly head based on government policy, it's tough enough and it's tough enough when times are dry and when we go through seasonal conditions, but why would the government add to the pressure that farmers are under?" Ley said.