Those were among the main messages Edward River Mayor Ashley Hall impressed on Federal Minister for the Environment and Water Murray Watt during a chance one-on-one discussion this week.
It comes on the back of the Federal Government confirming its ‘assistance package’ for SunRice will be focused on its Leeton Mill, despite 68 of the 78 workers made redundant in August being based in Deniliquin.
Mr Watt was in Leeton to celebrate the $14.5 million Federal Government grant this week.
The funding, to be matched by SunRice, will help establish a new rice cake manufacturing plant, with the Federal Government saying the project will support more than 200 direct and indirect jobs across the Riverina.
Cr Hall was offered a last-minute invite to the media circus, and said he had a chance encounter with the minister when dining with SunRice chairman John Bradford in Leeton.
While welcoming the investment, Cr Hall said it would do little to support Deniliquin and district through the crisis partly created by the impact of government water policy on the industry.
“I had the opportunity to discuss critical regional issues with Federal Water and Environmental Minister Murray Watt,” Cr Hall said.
“We were pleased to see $14.5 million federal grant for SunRice to assist with their new packaging plant in Leeton, supporting local industry, but I highlighted this has limited impact on the 68 jobs lost in Deniliquin’s rice mill.
“With 68 jobs made redundant, we stressed the significant impact on our 8000-strong community and the urgency of additional support.”
Cr Hall said Mr Watt told him he had already approached the NSW Government about Deniliquin being strongly considered in future funding programs.
“The minister did tell me that he'd written to the NSW Governtment requesting Deniliquin be looked after in the third round of the Sustainable Communities funding grant program.
“We can only hope this message has been heard by NSW.”
The mayor also used the meeting to advocate for greater flexibility in Murray-Darling Basin water management, and expressed opposition to further water buybacks.
“We emphasised that our region has already contributed 43 per cent of the water reductions and that additional buybacks would be detrimental,” he said.
Cr Hall also raised concerns about a shortfall of about 260 gigalitres under the Sustainable Diversion Limit Adjustment Mechanism program, and shared fears the volume could ultimately be recovered through buybacks.
“The minister did say he hasn't made any decision around that, but appreciated the strong message he received.”
Federal Member for Farrer David Farley also welcomed the Leeton investment, but said it highlighted the underlying issue facing the region's rice industry.
“Despite the fact that majority of the job cuts occurred at the Deniliquin mill, it appears this funding won’t extend to that part of the electorate,” Mr Farley said.
“The reality is that water allocations have flow-on effects.
“We weren’t asking for funding, we were asking for water so the whole SunRice network could benefit.”
Mr Bradford described the funding for Leeton as “an important step”, but said the industry's future still depended on growers receiving adequate water allocations to maintain production.
23°C