Media Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
FOOD IMPORTS TOP EXPORTS AS BASIN WATER CUTS
ARE PROPOSED
A report released yesterday by Senator Kim Carr showed that Australia is now a net importer of
food as the Murray Darling Basin Authority proposes savage water cuts to Australia’s premier
food producing region.
“The MDBA should be assisting food producers in the basin instead of demonising them” said
Max Rheese, executive director of the Australian Environment Foundation.
“Australia needs to support efficient food production while optimising efficient water delivery to
the environment.
“The current proposal to direct massive water allocations to the artificial man-made environment
in the Lower Lakes is a very inefficient use of a limited resource. All this achieves is to maintain
artificial man-made freshwater lakes at
the expense of food production and the natural
environment upstream.
The State of the Industry report prepared for the Australian Food and Grocery Council showed
that in the last year Australia imported $1.8 billion more food than it exported.
While the report acknowledged the strong Australian dollar had an effect on both imports and
exports, AFGC chief executive Kate Carnell said
“Proposed water allocation cuts for food
production in the
Murray-Darling Basin will also threaten the future viability of numerous food
manufacturers in the Basin, negatively impacting exports, and making it harder for locally-
produced goods to compete with imports.
Mr Rheese said “This report confirms that food security must be enhanced rather than
undermined for the benefit of all Australians. The focus on improving efficiencies should be on
how we use existing environmental water and water gains from infrastructure upgrades.
“Water is being sucked out of the Basin by 5 million residents in cities located outside the Basin,
such as Melbourne, Ballarat and Adelaide to the detriment of food production and the
environment with the pain of water cuts being inflicted solely on Basin communities.
“Minister Burke should direct the MDBA to start afresh with the view to optimise outcomes for
both the environment and basin communities, as this clearly is not the case with the current
Basin Guide” said Mr Rheese.
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ENDS -
Media contact: Max Rheese 0428 621320
The Australian Environment Foundation is a not-for-profit, membership-based environment
organisation having no political affiliation. Many of our members are practical environmentalists
and we accept that environmental protection and sustainable resource use are generally
October 28th 2010
NEWS 
