MP warns against irrigation buyout
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The Member for Parkes, Mark Coulton, has warned farming communities in northern New South Wales could face decimation if the Commonwealth embarks on a mass buyout of irrigation properties.
There are reports the Government is considering buying Toorale Station near Bourke when Clyde Agriculture puts it up for auction next month.
Mr Coulton says if the Government continues to buy up large irrigation properties for their water rights, it will devastate local communities dependent on farming.
"I think sometimes people jump for simplistic solutions to very complicated problems," he said.
"You'd have to purchase about 15 megalitres of water around the Queensland border to get one megalitre to the mouth of the Murray.
"We need to be careful we don't decimate entire industries in towns to have that water merely evaporate."
