In an announcement this week, the SunRice Group said the changes to shift structures is due to reduced rice supply volumes driven by drying conditions and structural changes to water availability under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. The reality of government policy has been laid bare according to the President of the Ricegrowers’ Association, Peter Hermann.
“This Government refused to heed the warnings. Untargeted water buybacks impact jobs in rural communities - real jobs. Jobs that were done by people who were active contributors to this country are lost. This government puts our people on welfare. Who's going to benefit from that?” Mr Hermann said.
Despite our advice, backed by reports from ABARES and Marsden Jacobs the Government has ploughed on with buybacks announcing just last month another purchase of $430 million from our regions.
This means the Australian rice industry, the most water efficient in the world, is highly vulnerable.
The worst part about it is, the real impact is not on the individual farmer – it is on the mill workers, truck drivers and others who have no say in whether water will leave our district or not.
“These are the blue-collar workers Labor says it supports. There is no support for the workers in the value chain of agriculture.” said Mr Herrmann.
RGA Executive Director, Graeme Kruger, said “the Government’s own advice predicted continued water buybacks would see rice production decrease by 11.3 percent[1] which has to influence rice processing due to reduced scale.”
“We acknowledge rice production is highly variable due to seasonal conditions, but our industry analysis shows rice production has never returned to pre–Basin Plan water recovery levels, even in wet years which shows the long-term structural impact water recovery has had on the industry,” Mr Kruger said.
Despite a legal obligation under the Water Act for the Minister to consider social and economic impacts before deciding to purchase water, open-tender buybacks, by design, prevent adequate consideration of community-level impacts.
With the economic reports that have been done, and the Basin Plan review underway, the Government was well within their rights to pause further water purchase until after the MDBA tables their report, but they have not and it is our communities who are paying.
While it is unfortunate that it has come to this, let this be the reality check needed for the Government to realise the time for buyback is over and to focus on using the water they must maximise environmental outcomes and let regional communities recover.
The RGA commended the commitment of the SunRice Group to consult with impacted employees and explore all options.
“We appreciate SunRice’s commitment to transparent communications, their workforce and the broader communities in which they work,” said Mr Kruger.
ENDS.
[1] dcceew.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/socio-economic-considerations-2024-25-eoi.pdf p10-11
