Shadow Minister for Water and Deputy Leader of The Nationals Steph Ryan, Leader of The Nationals Peter Walsh and Member for Ovens Valley Tim McCurdy were at Lake Buffalo last Thursday to launch the campaign.
Ms Ryan said expansion of Lake Buffalo could be a game-changer for Victoria.
“We should examine building Big Buffalo to make water supplies in northern Victoria more reliable,” Ms Ryan said.
“It’s also an opportunity to save up to 130GL of evaporative losses by reducing the system’s reliance on Lake Victoria in south west NSW.
“We have an ideal opportunity to refer this project to the Federal Government’s new National Water Grid Authority for investigation, but Victorian Labor has flatly refused.
“The petition we’ve launched today calls on the Andrews Government to urgently reverse its short-sighted refusal and I encourage irrigators and communities to add their voice to the call.”
Lake Buffalo has reached 100 per cent capacity every year since 2003. Big Buffalo would investigate increasing the existing dam capacity of 23,900ML – just six per cent of the mean annual flow of the Buffalo River – and connecting it to Lake Nillahcootie via a pipeline.
Mr Walsh said the water that has spilt at Lake Buffalo could be bolstering allocations this year and putting downward pressure on temporary water prices.
“Climate experts are predicting we will see more intense rainfall events and longer periods of drought and we need to capture that rain when it falls to guard our communities against climate change,” Mr Walsh said.
“The Andrews Labor Government can’t continue to sit on its hands while irrigators in northern Victoria face a crisis due to a lack of available water.”
Mr McCurdy said the expansion would be a boon for tourism in the region, as well as providing greater flood mitigation for towns like Myrtleford and Wangaratta.
“Big Buffalo has been on the cards for a long time in north east Victoria. We believe there is an opportunity, while the Federal Government is looking for big, nation-shaping projects, to see whether it can stack up,” Mr McCurdy said.
“By signing the petition, you’re adding your voice to the growing pressure on the Andrews Government to get behind this transformational project.”
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack told the Yarrawonga Chronicle during his visit to the region earlier this month that the federal government will back Steph Ryan’s push to expand the Lake Buffalo dam stating their “cheque book is ready”.
“It has been talked about for a long, long time. If it increases the capacity of water storage, provides security for South Australia and Victoria and indeed Southern Riverina then that’s got to be seen as a good thing,” he told the Yarrawonga Chronicle.
“I know how high and dry Deniliquin and parts of the Murray are at the moment that have had zero allocations, anything that can put water in the system and help that ability to store water, I’m all in favour.
“We’ve got the capacity now, a federal government willing to build water storage infrastructure, why wouldn’t the states want to come on board?
“Why wouldn’t the Victorian government want to be a part of the action when there is a willing and able Commonwealth Government there with a cheque book ready, wanting, willing and able to invest in water storage infrastructure.”
You can sign the petition at www.buildbigbuffalo.com.au
