The Biggest Problem with The Murray-Darling Basin is The Date

Lights, Action, Lets Play!!

Good news about the lighting finally being installed at the Recreation Reserve. Thanks to lots of hard work, lobbying, grants and Shire assistance, the state of the art lighting is finally almost ready to be turned on. The towers have been put in place, now we are waiting for the electricity supply to be completed.

The lights will be night cricket competition standard that will allow many more events to be held. The night time playing opportunities will be a bonus to our clubs that are growing in numbers and many other functions will be possible to run in the evenings.

The sporting groups currently using the ground would be able to utilise them, along with new up and coming teams. This would offer many more opportunities for use of the Recreation Reserve in the evenings .

Appreciation is expressed to the Shire for working on the upgrades promised for the area, and the new drainage has been completed, that should assist the car park and in generally improving the standard of the facility.

There will be many possibilities including night markets, social functions, competitions etc etc. This will be a huge benefit to Nagambie Community.

Federal Member for Nicholls, Sam Birrell, says the June 2024 deadline for the Murray-Darling Basin Plan is being used to play politics with the livelihoods of communities.

Mr Birrell said Water Minister, Tania Plibersek, is using the deadline to falsely claim the Basin Plan will fall 750 gigalitres short of water recovery targets.

“While the Minister talks about the threat to the environment and possible extinction of species, the Murray Darling Basin Authority report card makes it clear that progress is being made, but more time is required,” Mr Birrell said.

“I welcome the Water Minister finally acknowledging that the deadline needs to be extended to achieve the plan, but it has generated a lot of fear and anxiety in basin communities to get to this point.”

Mr Birrell says the MDBA report card acknowledges the impact widespread flooding across the Basin has had on supply, constraint, and efficiency measures under the Sustainable diversion limit adjustment mechanism (SDLAM).

“This mechanism is designed to deliver a 605 GL/y offset, allowing the Basin Plan to be achieved with less water recovered from consumptive users such as towns, communities, farmers and industries,” Mr Birrell said.

“In its first budget the Albanese Government set aside a secret amount for community wrecking water buybacks based on commitment to complete the plan by the 2024 deadline, rather than granting SDLAM projects more time to achieve sustainable outcomes.”

The MDBA report card says water recovery at the Basin scale remains at 98% for surface water and 92% for groundwater recovered against the Bridging the Gap target.

“That target will be met, and with additional time so will the offsets,” Mr Birrell said.

“Another 450 gigabytes the Water Minister wants to carve out to complete the plan ‘in full’ is additional to the water recovery target.” process run by the Department of Education Senator Jana Stewart also welcomed the Albanese Labor Government’s guarantee to ensure all Indigenous students are eligible for a funded place at university if they are qualified for admission to the course. At the moment this only applies to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students who live in regional Australia.

“It was agreed by Basin States in 2018 that it would only be recovered if there was a positive or neutral socio-economic impact on basin communities.

“I acknowledge statements from the Victorian and New South Wales government’s which continue to oppose water buybacks that would be a social and economic wrecking ball for basin communities.

“The Basin Plan has always been about long-term sustainability; it must be given time to achieve the outcomes without doing irreparable harm to communities that also rely on water,” he said.

“The Albanese Labor Government is committed to closing the gap and supporting First Nations young people to be confident about the equality of jobs available to them.” Senator Stewart said.

Only 7 per cent of young First Nations people in their 20s and 30s have a university degree.

The new measure is set to double the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students at university in a decade.

“We need to ensure young Australians, regardless of their location or background, can get the skills they need for the jobs of the future.” Senator Stewart said.

New councillor for Strathbogie Shire Council

Robin Hull Weatherald has been elected as a councillor for Lake Nagambie Ward in Strathbogie Shire Council, as the only eligible candidate remaining from the October 2020 general election.

‘The Victorian Electoral Commission invited Mr Weatherald to declare he was still qualified to be a councillor in writing,’ Election Manager Susan Thompson said.

‘As Mr Weatherald returned the declaration within the required 14-day timeframe, he has been declared elected.’

Ms Thompson declared the result at 12 noon today. The extraordinary vacancy occurred after the resignation of Councillor David Andrews.

If there are more vacancies in Lake Nagambie Ward before the 2024 general election, the Victorian Electoral Commission will hold a by-election.