The water recovery targets proposed in the draft Basin Plan would mean a permanent drought for dairy farmers and regional towns, the Australian Dairy Industry Council (ADIC) warned today.

ADIC Chair Chris Griffin said dairy farmers had already made great gains in water efficiency, but a permanent reduction in water availability on this scale would inevitably lead to severe and lasting decline in irrigation- dependent regions.

“This is not just about dairy farmers it also about milk company infrastructure – milk tanker drivers, milk factory employees, their families and the towns they live in,” he said.

Mr Griffin said the Commonwealth already owned more than 1000 gigalitres of water previously used for irrigation.

“This is on top of 800 gigalitres of water saved before 2009, and there’s even more to come from water saving infrastructure projects planned and underway,” Mr Griffin said.

The dairy industry across Qld, NSW, Victoria and SA will be impacted by the draft Basin Plan, however, the Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) has recognised that the dairy industry in northern Victoria will be among the hardest hit if the Commonwealth keeps buying water to meet the 2750-gigalitre target.

“We urge the Authority and the Commonwealth to use the consultation period to set a sustainable diversion limit that balances the needs of the environment and regional communities,” Mr Griffin said.

ADIC water taskforce chair Daryl Hoey said the water recovery target released today was around 40 per cent of the annual average water used by agriculture across the Basin each year.

“This means permanent drought for farmers and regional towns,” Mr Hoey said.

“The dairy industry wants the Authority to analyse whether the environmental watering objectives can be achieved using the water bought so far and saved in infrastructure works planned and underway. We support strategic water purchases for the environment where they are linked to water-saving infrastructure projects.”

“But there shouldn’t be any more general buyback tenders in the southern connected system before the proposed review in 2015, when it will be clearer whether that water is even needed once environmental works and other measures are taken into account.”

Media Contact:

Daryl Hoey, ADIC Water Spokesperson

M: 0407 582 982

Chris Griffin, ADIC Chair

M: 0402 846 239

The Australian Dairy Industry Council (ADIC) is alarmed about the impact that a carbon price of $23 per tonne will have on the viability of Australian dairy farming families.

Despite the exclusion of direct agricultural emissions and diesel from the Federal Government’s Carbon Tax proposal, ADIC director, Adrian Drury, today confirmed the severe consequences for the dairy industry of this tax.

“The cost to dairy farming families of this carbon tax is estimated to be $5,000 – $7,000 per year. Electricity is a major component of dairy farming operating costs and this tax will have a severe, direct impact on dairy farmers. Furthermore, the Government has failed to recognise that as a trade-exposed industry, dairy processers cannot pass on the costs of a carbon scheme to local consumers or world markets, therefore farmers will wear the full cost of this tax.

“The Prime Minister’s assurances that Australian families won’t be worse off does not seem to apply to the 7,500 dairy farming families. These families face the double whammy of paying the carbon tax as householders as well.” Clearly, although the Government claims it has targeted this tax at the so- called ‘500 big polluters’, it is the family-owned dairy farm businesses that will have to pay.

“A simple solution to this obvious inequity is to exempt or remove the carbon tax on electricity from primary producers and dairy processors” Mr Drury said.

The ADIC is keen to talk to the Government, the Greens and the Independents about the carbon tax and how dairy may access support measures to build some fairness into the equation for the dairy farmers disproportionately impacted by this tax. It is absolutely vital that a fair deal for dairy farmers be achieved. A loss of income of $5,000 or more is simply not tenable for family businesses. The ADIC would welcome specific programs such as the Food Processor and Foundries Fund that go part- way towards addressing the equity in this scheme.

The dairy industry is Australia’s third biggest rural industry and accounts around $9bn in total value to the Australian economy every year. As an industry, dairy is committed to contributing to national efforts to reduce carbon emissions, however this needs to be done in a way that is fair to all Australians, including dairy farmers.

Media Contact:

Adrian Drury, ADIC Director

M: 0428 569 245

The Australian dairy industry is urging the Federal Government to suspend non-strategic water buybacks immediately in the Murray Darling Basin, as recommended by the parliamentary Regional Australia committee investigating the proposed Basin Plan.

The industry welcomed the report by the committee, chaired by independent MP Tony Windsor, and called on Federal Water Minister Tony Burke to act on recommendations to improve the performance of his Department with more timely funding for water-saving projects.

Director of the Australian Dairy Industry Council, Adrian Drury, said the Basin Plan needed to be more than just a scientific experiment in environmental watering on a large scale.

“It also needs to promote regional economic development and growth,” he said. “So far, the focus has been too much on simply encouraging people to leave farming.”

Ultimately, the primary test that the dairy industry will apply to the draft Basin Plan is whether it allows for a vibrant and growing agricultural sector to operate across the Basin. This includes detailed analysis of whether the Plan will facilitate the conditions required for economic growth and the equal weighting of economic, social and environmental objectives.

In particular, the dairy industry supports the Windsor committee’s call for the Murray Darling Basin Authority and the Commonwealth Government to:

• Focus greater investment in on- and off-farm water saving projects.
• Develop a community engagement strategy tailored for each catchment community, with meaningful opportunities for local communities to contribute to the Plan’s design.
• Develop localised and targeted structural adjustment packages, and localised economic development plans supported by workforce development and training packages.
• Focus greater investment into research and development to improve irrigation efficiency.
• Improve the data on groundwater availability, use and connectivity to surface water.
• Apply greater rigour to the assumptions underpinning the proposed sustainable diversion limits.

Mr Drury said the Government’s move to smaller, rolling rounds of tenders for buybacks earlier this year was effectively just more of the same approach taken for the last few years.

“The Government should limit itself to strategic purchases linked directly to water-saving infrastructure projects or community-led decommissioning of channels or districts,” Mr Drury said.

“Further general tenders for water buyback should only be undertaken after water-saving projects are completed and assessed, and the environmental response using the existing pool of purchased water has been evaluated,” he said.

“The Federal Government must also undertake an assessment of practical environmental management constraints, such as the limited capacity to release large volumes from dams for environmental watering events and the flooding risks for private land.”

Media Contact:

Adrian Drury, ADIC Director

M: 0428 659 245

The dairy industry has slammed the credibility of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) Guide and wants it to be withdrawn and replaced with factual and better-balanced proposals.

Australian Dairy Industry Council (ADIC) Chair Wes Judd said the Guide had created confusion and increased the uncertainty surrounding water security and availability for the Basin’s dairy farmers and their communities.

“We call on the Australian Government to direct the Authority to do the necessary work required to provide fair outcomes for farmers, communities and the environment. We also expect the Parliamentary Inquiry to support this,” Mr Judd said.

“Job losses have been grossly underestimated and the Authority has already conceded at their community meetings they cannot support the data in the Guide.

“I would also suggest the scientific analysis and theoretical computer modelling is inadequate. Why weren’t more scenarios examined to get some real scientific rigour into this debate?”

Mr Judd condemned the Guide for its comments about the dairy industry in the Basin.

“The fact it says the 3,000 to 4,000 GL a year reductions may result in dairy actually expanding from current levels of production compared with the recent drought is ridiculous,” he said.

“We have experienced the proposed cuts during the recent drought and the region lost well in excess of a billion litres of milk during that period. Not to mention the big increase in debt that farmers have taken on to actually survive those drought years.”

Mr Judd warned the proposed cuts had widespread implications that could be catastrophic for families, towns, communities and all industries.

“The dairy industry is here for the long term, however dramatic cuts to water entitlements will inevitably reduce the size of the industry, which means fewer farming families and smaller Basin communities,” he said.

“A population decrease within Basin communities will snowball to a loss of local services such as education and health. And we’re already seeing the impact on investment confidence with the Australian Bankers Association saying it would be difficult for communities dependent on irrigation to plan for their future with uncertainty hanging over them.

“It is a no win situation because those dairy farmers who do remain in the Basin will have to cope with reduced reliability and higher water charges.”

The MDBA Guide states a reduction in current diversion limits is likely to affect food industries.

“Food processing is an important activity in many Basin communities. The dramatic water cuts will limit the production of one of Australia’s largest food sources and reduce Australia’s export income.”

Mr Judd is urging all dairy farmers in the Basin and everyone within the Basin communities to voice their concerns to the MDBA through the Basin Plan online forum at www.thebasinplan.mdba.gov.au

Media Contact:

Wes Judd, ADIC Chair

M: 0407 132 854

Adrian Drury, ADIC Basin Taskforce Chair

M: 0428 569 245

The Australian Dairy Industry Council (ADIC) has today voiced its concern about the impact on farming families, regional communities and the Australian economy of savage cuts to water entitlements foreshadowed in the Murray Darling Basin (MDB) Guide.

The cuts outlined in the Guide would inevitably lead to a smaller dairy industry, the loss of regional jobs, and millions in export income to the economy. Dairy farmers in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia will be impacted and are now facing an uncertain future.

“The Basin Guide recommendations put at risk the livelihood of many dairy families who are responsible and efficient users of water and ignores the need for a collaborative, efficient and comprehensive water management approach to the Murray Darling Basin. The priority of all who live within, and use the resources of, the Basin must be to secure its social, environmental and economic value into the future,” ADIC Chairman Wes Judd said today.

Of the areas impacted by the Guide, the lower regions of the Basin, is Australia’s largest dairying area with more than 2,600 dairy farms, representing 32 per cent of all dairy farmers in Australia. These dairy farms irrigate approximately 85,000 hectares, equivalent to 15 per cent of irrigated land in the region and produce around 2.1 billion litres of milk, worth $800 million at the farmgate.

There are approximately 6,000 people employed directly on dairy farms with a further 2,600 employed in manufacturing and processing in the region. The Australian dairy industry generates export revenues in the order of $3 billion.

Dairy farmers understand the importance of being good stewards of the natural resources they manage and take this responsibility seriously. Mr Judd said the ADIC calls on Government to work closely with industry to restore balance to the MDB Plan. Without a balance between environmental, economic and social water uses and farms, many irrigation systems and rural communities will be rendered unviable.

“The focus must be placed on increasing efficiency for the delivery of water for the environment, irrigation infrastructure upgrades to obtain water savings and on-farm irrigation modernisation to ensure that every drop of water is used efficiently and effectively.”

ADIC will examine the 21 volumes in the Guide closely to analyse the impact on our dairy farmers in each region of the Basin. Mr Judd made a commitment to all dairy farmers that ADIC will work tirelessly on their behalf to restore the balance in the Plan. While some impacts of the proposed cuts will be felt immediately, the major impacts will occur in the future, ADIC will use this time to demand of Government a fairer outcome for dairy farmers and regional communities.

Media Contact:

Wes Judd, ADIC Chair

M: 0407 132 854

Adrian Drury, ADIC Basin Taskforce Chair

M: 0428 569 245