South Australia Liberal Candidate for Chaffey Tim Whetstone

Maywald Delays Water for Political Gain

Victor P Taffa

Rann Government Water Security Minister Karlene Maywald has been caught out cynically playing with the livelihoods of Riverland irrigators for her own political gain.

When Premier Mike Rann governed with a minority a deal was done with lone Nationals Karlene Maywald which gave South Australia the impression that a Rann Government would save the Murray River.

Notwithstanding the total inaction of the Victorian and New South Wales Labor Governments the Rann Government has had eight years and still the Murray River is in poor condition with little water flows.

The Minister has known for more than four weeks that South Australia had an extra 40 gigalitre of water because of a miscalculation in South Australia’s entitlement from previous years, after both NSW and Victoria were each mistakenly given 20 gigalitres each too much.

The Liberal candidate for Chaffey, Tim Whetstone called on the Minister on the 4^th of February to release the water immediately, but the Minister has chosen to sit on this water and make an announcement closer to the election for her own political gain.

The Minister has played with people’s lives and clearly does not understand the daily hardship irrigators in the Riverland are facing.

The Minister is now claiming the deal was done on Friday night, this statement is very misleading. This Minister cannot be trusted.

Premier Rann has a legislated date to call a State election. The date of 20 March 2010 has been set down and yet the writs for the election have not been issued. The Premier should take the short walk to Government House and ask for the Parliament to be prorogued so South Australians can make a choice.

There is no surprise that the Murray River is drying up when the Government will not even ask for the writs for an election to be issued.

SA Liberal Candidate for Chaffey Tim Whetstone