Australia’s wine industry has urged Victoria to join in the national
approach for the long term management of the Murray Darling Basin as it
braces for the potential worst case scenario of zero allocations to
irrigators within months.
Winemakers’ Federation of Australia chief executive Stephen Strachan
said the news that governments were preparing to begin 2007-08 water
allocations at zero was not surprising given the record low inflows, but
it was deeply concerning to the wine industry.
“Australia’s wine industry established a Drought Management Taskforce
last year to prepare the industry for a range of scenarios, including
this worst case possibility,” Mr Strachan said.
“With picking of our 2007 vintage close to an end in most regions we
know that the amount of grapes picked and crushed this year will be
dramatically down on last year’s figures, in the order of 30-40% across
Australia and much more in some key regions.
“Although nobody knows when it will rain or how much it will rain we
have been working on the basis that 2007-08 may be another tough year
for many grape growers and winemakers, potentially tougher than the
current vintage. The information released today about inflows and
storage levels confirms that we may be heading in that direction.”
Mr Strachan said that while no amount of good management or improved
structures could have prevented the drought or would get us out of the
drought, its severity and the negative impact on regional communities
across the basin was exacerbated by the poor management practices of the
past.
“Over allocation of our rivers’ finite resources, the slow introduction
of the market based trading mechanisms and the failure to minimise
unnecessary losses from the system have made the consequences of this
drought worse,” Mr Strachan explained.
“The National Plan for Water Security, developed by the Australian
Government and adopted by all states except Victoria, will address many
of the policy failures of the past and make us better equipped to deal
with this type of crisis in the future.
“Australia’s wine industry, which generates $3 billion in exports
annually through both dry-grown and irrigated production, urges the
Victorian Government to sign on to the plan so as to avoid a repeat of
the mistakes of the past.
“Rivers and waterways don’t recognise state borders. It is one river
system and it needs to be managed as one system to ensure its health and
the health of the many farmers, small businesses and communities who
rely on it are secured.”
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