NEW Federal Minister for Water, Tony Burke, made his first public comments about the forthcoming draft Basin Plan.
In Adelaide radio interviews, he emphasised the importance of protecting regional communities. “ … when an irrigator does sell out their water entitlements and they then leave the community, the money and the jobs associated with that leave a community as well,” Minister Burke said. “I’m just very conscious as to whether or not we’ve got enough in place to make sure that we keep strong regional communities in those areas.” He also reiterated that the new government was committed to purchasing water from willing sellers to meet future reductions in usage.
The full transcript is available here.
