Sustainable Agricultural Communities Australia

Mildura Farmers Rally (25/09/2006)

On the 25/09/2006 a farmers rally, organized by the Sunraysia VFF and irrigators was held to protest the appalling circumstances confronting the growers of the Mildura region. Invited guest speakers were the Hon. Bob Katter MHR, Bill Shorten (AWU), and SACA Chairman Robert Belcher. The issues covered included free trade, collective bargaining, water trading, and managed investment schemes.
      

Other Images

(Above Left) a picture that tells a thousand words - no further comment required. 

(Above Right) ripping and mounding of a pine plantation site near Delegate SE NSW.

In 2006, MIS companies purchased 80-85 % of tradeable water in the Murray Darling Basin. Much of this water was stored in large dams like this one. The dam pictured (below and right)  is a 900 ML dam which was constructed by an MIS company for irrigation purposes. In April 2007 this dam sprung a leak, leading to the loss of a clearly large volume of water. This shows the scale of corporatisation of our water resources and is certainly not commercial utopia.