FEDERAL Government attempts to push through an early lifting of the four per cent annual limit on water trade have been roundly rejected by Victorian irrigators.
Irrigators at meetings in Mildura on Tuesday dismissed Federal Government claims it was costing the state $19 million in lost water sales as misleading and a thinly-disguised ploy to allow it to make a grab for Victorian water.
They demanded the Commonwealth stick to the agreement made at the Council of Australian Government meeting in Sydney in July of a consultation-based move to six per cent by the end of next year.
And they said there would be absolutely no support for lifting of the limit until the Federal Government outlined in detail how it would operate its $3.1 billion water buyback and ensured a uniform application of termination fees that did not leave some districts more vulnerable to water loss than others.
Meetings in Swan Hill and Shepparton scheduled for today were expected to demand the same.
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