NSW caught-up in Murray-Darling conflict
The NSW Government has come under fire at meetings over the Murray Darling Basin Plan.
The Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment, Bob Baldwin, and Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) Chair, Neil Andrew, met with residents and advocates of the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (MIA) to discuss the plan this week.
Griffith Business Chamber President Paul Pierotti says the state has been accused of inaction.
NSW has until March to agree to the plan that other states have already signed off on.
But Mr Pierotti told the ABC that while there is a push for the state to sign up and boost confidence in the community, he believes the plan is flawed.
“Both Neil and Bob Baldwin were extremely critical of [the] New South Wales Government,” he said.
“What they're really talking about is them finalising all the detail into signing up to the plan and allocating water from specific districts.
“And we can see why our state government is having so much trouble, because ‘who do we shoot first’ is the question that we are asking our poor state ministers to make.”
“Bob and Neil were pushing us, to also push the states to actually finalise this, with a claim that we'd at least know where we stand so therefore drive confidence back in the community.
“Driving confidence would require us to have a plan going forward that would mean we were back into population growth and serious economic growth.
“Neither of those things can be presented under this current arrangement.”