The old National Water Plan, published in the early 2000’s, brought us (eventually)
- the highly contested Murray Darling Basin Plan
- State goverments getting involved in your dam storages
- a trading scheme for water that works poorly during drought….. and so on.
NOW the government wants to impose a NEW National Water Plan. It appears that they were very secretive about it – even though meat poultry are BIG (if very efficient) users of water, there was no consultation at all and the only way we found out was becuase the SA DPI (“PIRSA”) was so horrified by what they saw that they contacted all the Agricultural peak bodies who’s industries operate in South Australia adn brought it to all our attention.
The proposed new Plan: 
- does NOT consider water use for food production,
- does not consider any water use at all for livestock
- gives Indigenous “cultural” water needs/use exactly the same weighting in water allocation as drinking water for “townies”,
- does NOT consider desalination as an option for water, even in urban areas,
- proposes that things can be changed later by “schedules” that are not present in the plan (sound like a meat poultry contract?)
- quotes “indigenous needs” from a report that states on page 3 that the views of the writers do not represent Indigenous peoples……and so on.
ACGC was caught on short notice and was not able to circulate this to all members, but did ask Directors (and their organisations), Associate Members and policy Councillors for comment – and we were surprised how much interest and comment there was! This thing has a way to play out, and now ACGC has clearly identified that it is a stakeholder we should be included in further consultations.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE DISCUSSION PAPER
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ACGC RESPONSE
Latest Information
Local Avian Influenza Outbreak Sparks Review of Biosecurity Agreement
In the wake of the H7 “local” Avian Influenza outbreaks in Vic, NSW and ACT, there has been a rush of bureaucratic survey-taking, and requests for input and opinion, all hoping that meat poultry growers tell government departments how wonderfully they handled the outbreak. Sadly, they are receiving the truth: the good, the bad and […]
read moreACGC Comments on National Competition Policy Principles and Plan
You might recall the “old” National Competition Policy and Principles. That’s the highy theoretical, economist-driven, philosophical document that resulted in removal of the Meat Poultry growers’ Countervailing power legislation in all states, resulting in grower not even having a full ability to use delegates to negotiate thier comtacts for them. Even the ACCC law changes […]
read moreRadio Interviews on Flow FM, South Australia
Every week, ACGC features on Flow FM 99.5MHZ Country Market Friday. Click play to hear some of the interviews here: 30th Oct 2024: Emergency diseases: potential risks to Australia’s food security 24th Oct 2024: World Consumption of chicken meat, and the future for poultry meat consumption worldwide in the next 10 years. […]
read more