May 26, 2011
The Nationals Member for Gippsland Darren Chester is leading the fight for funding of $5 million to upgrade irrigation channels in the Macalister Irrigation District.
The project is estimated to increase dairy production by three million litres per year over 20 years, with broader economic benefits conservatively estimated at $15 million.
Mr Chester told Federal Parliament the project should be funded under the new Regional Development Australia program and he couldn’t understand why such a valuable project would be ruled ineligible over technicalities. He has asked the Minister to intervene and support funding for the channel modernisation.
“It is somewhat ironic that the only organisation capable of delivering water efficiency projects within the Macalister Irrigation District, Southern Rural Water, is precluded from applying for funding,” Mr Chester told Parliament.
“The application is to upgrade infrastructure along 21 kilometres of irrigation supply channels to improve efficiencies, which will increase productivity and reduce the loss of nutrients to the Gippsland Lakes.
“This project fits within the Gippsland Regional Plan and has been supported strongly by Regional Development Gippsland. I am advised, however, that Southern Rural Water was encouraged to submit an application through RDA Gippsland and it was not until late in the process that the organisation was made aware that, as it is a state government not-for-profit enterprise, SRW was not eligible to make an application in its own right. “
Mr Chester called on the Minister to assist in one of three ways; to re-interpret the eligibility criteria to allow the application for funding to proceed; to amend the criteria for subsequent rounds; or, to allow some extra time for a revised bid in the Gippsland region with an applicant who meets the criteria as it currently stands.
“An extremely worthy and otherwise eligible project may be denied the opportunity to seek funding based on the nature of the applicant rather than on the merits of the project. As I said, I have written to the minister along these lines and sought his urgent advice on these issues.”
Mr Chester said the project to modernise the Macalister Irrigation District was a critical issue for the future prosperity of Gippsland.