The Victorian government is set to bypass the State Parliament to access water for its controversial pipeline from the state's north as the political storm deepened over its $2.9 billion irrigation upgrade project.
According to The Australian Financial Review, the latest brawl over the controversial Food Bowl Modernisation project erupted on Wednesday when the opposition, together with the Greens and the Democratic Labor Party, blocked a so-called bulk water entitlement in the state's upper house.
The entitlement would have allowed the government to bring water saved through its investment in improving irrigation infrastructure down a $750 million pipeline to Melbourne, as well as providing extra water allocations to the environment and farmers.
After initially claiming the action could jeopardise the project's funding, Water Minister Tim Holding yesterday indicated the government could use existing provisions in the Water Act to circumvent the need for parliament's approval.
"If it's the case that the opposition and the Greens will not support the bulk entitlement, we have other options available to us, they are not our preferred options ... for sharing the savings that come from the [project]," he said. Mr Holding said those options would decrease the long-term certainty of the arrangements.
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