Media Releases

The NSW Government should announce an allocation for NSW Murray and Murrumbidgee General Security entitlement holders on 1 June.

In anticipation of tomorrow’s allocation announcement, the RGA is looking to the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DEPI - Water) to make a general security allocation announcement for our growers.

The independent panel report on the Lower Lakes may have settled their recent past as a largely freshwater ecosystem but it leaves many unanswered questions about their future.

State and federal authorities are planning to ram through NSW water sharing and resource plans by the end of the year, ignoring stakeholder pleas for further consultation.

Water for production could be reduced to support higher planned environmental water flows, under changes proposed in the draft 2020 NSW Murray and Lower Darling Water Sharing Plan.

The National Party’s rejection of further water recovery up to another 450 GL from the productive pool is welcome news, finally acknowledging our industries and communities cannot endure further negative impacts on our economic viability.

The Central Executive of the Ricegrowers' Association of Australia (RGA) are the elected representatives of approximately 1,000 rice growers, and elected Rob Massina as their new president yesterday. Rob replaces Jeremy Morton who stood down after being elected to the board of SunRice as a Grower Director.

Jeremy Morton has been elected as a SunRice Grower Director and will be stepping down from his position as president of the Ricegrowers’ Association of Australia.

It would appear that the Morrison Government has chosen to abandon Murray-Darling Communities when an opportunity for leadership presented itself. That opportunity came in the form of the Water Act 2007 five year assessment of the implementation of the Basin Plan. This review was handed to the Government by the Productivity Commission in January 2019.

One the hardest things to do in life is to admit that you have made a mistake, and yet when we do the result is incredibly liberating. It enables a fresh start, an opportunity to change direction or right the wrongs of the past.