While much of our attention is focused elsewhere, there was a timely reminder from the Victorian Farmers Federation that all is not well with the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
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The VFF is critical of the recently released draft socio-economic report into the plan.
Water Council chairman Richard Anderson said while the report acknowledged the severe social and economic hardship faced by rural communities, it failed to make much-needed recommendations to give irrigators certainty about their future.
He said the report failed to clearly recommend that there should be no further buybacks and failed to rule out recovery of the 450GL of upwater. Instead, the report lamely recommends the "slowing" of water recovery.
Mr Anderson said not only should any further recovery be ditched, but the water could not be delivered without severely compromising river systems and structure. He said the report supported the efficiency and improvement buyback had achieved, but failed to recognise the devastation wrought on irrigators and rural communities.
Mr Anderson is correct to recognise the anger in irrigator communities.
His call comes at a time when farmer's organisations have had to operate with competing interests in their ranks.
In Victoria, a Sunraysia irrigator has a totally different outlook to a Goulburn Valley irrigator, and in NSW an irrigator on the Darling is hardly concerned about a Murray Valley irrigator.
Then there is the challenge of dealing with environmental lobby and a blinkered federal bureaucracy.
WEIRD WORLD
If it was not so serious, the present coronavirus could be funny.
Take those flocking to buy point of lay pullets to ensure a ready supply of eggs. At one outlet, 1000 were sold in several days.
Now, those of us who have been involved with chooks for many years would expect that the major beneficiaries could be the local fox population.
Then there was the girl of Asian persuasion who had bought a swag of vegetable seeds to grow her own vegies.
By the time they grow and are edible, all the shelves will be brimming.
Also, those who have cleaned out Bunnings vegetable seedlings should hope we do not have a locust outbreak.
Perhaps the best was the rural supermarket that obviously had done a deal over a load of boxed bananas. These were used to fill the space where toilet paper once resided.
It was not made clear if the banana skins were to be used as a toilet paper replacement. Well, at least they are biodegradable.
