MEMBER for Calare John Cobb says he will wait for WaterNSW’s feasibility and concept study before asking for a share of $500 million in water security funding to build a dam along the Belubula River.
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The federal government’s Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper, released on Saturday, announced the establishment of the $500 million National Water Infrastructure Fund to help finance projects that improve the nation’s water security.
The feasibility and concept study into dam sites, including Cranky Rock and Needles Gap, commenced earlier this year, and preliminary estimates from WaterNSW could take up to two years.
However, Mr Cobb said it did not make sense to ask Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce for a slice of the funding before a site had been chosen.
“We don’t know where or how much the project will cost ... I have made it very plain to Prime Minister Tony Abbott we need a dam in the Central West and I expect we will get a dam,” Mr Cobb said.
Improving Australia’s biosecurity was also addressed in the white paper, with an allocation of $200 million funding, something Orange orchardist and NSW Farmers Horticulture committee chairman Peter Darley said was a good start.
He said countries that imported food into Australia currently had a “very open gate” and money should be spent on setting checks and balances in place to ensure no exotic pests and diseases were brought into the country.
“Australian quarantine should be based in those countries that export food to Australia, like New Zealand, China,” Mr Darley said.
“Something the horticulture committee has been looking at is property identification codes. Every food producer would be allocated an identification code, so if there was an exotic disease outbreak, the powers-that-be would be able to trace it back to the place where it originated.”
