“Give us back the water you thieved off us for these bloody ratbags.”
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For federal MP Bob Katter it’s that simple.
He believes irrigators are being shortchanged when it comes to water allocations.
Mr Katter also believes politicians in the district should be doing more.
“They’ve cut back nearly 30 per cent of the Griffith economy with the Murray Darling cutbacks and for people to go back and re-elect people who did that is extraordinary,” he said.
Mr Katter said he believed crisis point was looming for the district’s economy.
“Businesses can go on for 10 years trading off their equity, but if you think you can sacrifice 30 per cent of the economy and still have a town like it is now, you believe in the tooth fairy,” Mr Katter said. “Crisis time is just around the corner for the whole of the Murray Darling Basin. As Australians we have just continued in our same voting pattern and politicians think they can get away with doing anything. We’re paying the price and we deserve to pay the price. As the great coach Wayne Bennett would say ‘if you keep doing what you’re doing you’ll get the same result’.”
Mr Katter said he was deeply concerned about the district’s future. “I’m 4000 kilometres away from the bloody Murray Darling Basin, but I like to think I’m a patriotic Australian and I just think they should give back to the economy the water they thieved off us.”
Mr Katter believes there are 40 to 50 dam sites throughout Australia that should be utilised. His comments come as irrigators demand the state government increase “dismal” water allocations as dams inch closer to capacity during what some have described as the wettest winter in decades.
Griffith mayor John Dal Broi is “extremely disappointed” water allocations are fixed at 17 per cent, despite Burrinjuck Dam sitting at 65 per cent capacity and Blowering Dam at 44 per cent capacity. Cr Dal Broi said the generous 150mm of winter rain had created one of the wettest seasons yet and believed the Department of Primary Industries’ 17 per cent allocation should sit around 40 per cent. “It’s frustrating, absolutely frustrating," Cr Dal Broi said.
Widgelli irrigator Chris Morshead appealed to the DPI to improve transparency on the process of determining allocations, maintaining Burrinjuck’s rapid increase hasn’t been reflected in previous announcements.