He said it was a mistake to remove the names of agriculture and food from departmental descriptions, but he stopped short of promising a change if the Liberal Nationals coalition was elected to govern at the next election.
It was, he said, a policy issue still to be decided on.
Although Victoria is Australia’s biggest producer of food and fibre, you won’t find the word ‘agriculture’ in the departmental names.
Agriculture sits inside the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action.
“I’m not in a position to announce names of new departments, but I think it should be prominent in government structures to remind people that it is pretty vital,” Mr O’Brien said during a visit to Shepparton on December 3.
Mr O’Brien was elected leader just a week prior, to replace former leader Peter Walsh.
Mr O’Brien, a former National Irrigators’ Council CEO, said the National Party had always opposed the Commonwealth’s Murray-Darling buyback plan because of the impact on rural communities and the creation of the ‘Swiss cheese’ effect on irrigation infrastructure.
He said a new report by the Wentworth Group of scientists found individual irrigators who sold their water had enjoyed increased income, but he said that was not the point.
“It’s the impact on the butcher, the baker, the factory worker, the community services, not the individual farmer who makes their own commercial decisions.
“That’s always been our perspective and it is shared by the Victorian Labor Government.
“We’ve seen the impact on places like dairying in northern Victoria.
“We are the victims of base decision making by the Federal Government who are more interested in votes in South Australia and Sydney and Melbourne, and saying: ‘we are doing something for the environment’, rather than delivering for rural communities and getting the balance right.”
Responding to a recent report that said the Murray-Darling Basin indicators were failing on a range of measures, Mr O’Brien said there were some signs of improvement, including Murray cod numbers.
“The approach seems to be just: add more water and you will fix the system. Well, it’s not just that straightforward,” he said.
“My frustration as a Nat has always been that we have to take water from irrigation communities because we’ve got to look after Adelaide, or Canberra.
“Not too much heavy lifting has been done by the cities on this.
“Federal Labor has got the balance wrong, in going back to the market at all costs.
“I think the government has got to be smarter in how they do it.”
Mr O’Brien also said it might be too soon to assess the impact of improved river management.
“It is too early to understand whether the environmental water is doing its job,” he said.
“The Victorian Environmental Water Holder and the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder have significant volumes of water at their disposal now.
“If those benefits are not being delivered we need to ask questions about how that water is being managed.”
Asked about water for First Nations people, Mr O’Brien said there needed to be more transparency and public discussion about transferring water.
“Handing over water, I think we need to have more discussions about its purpose, how it will address First Nations issues and how it will affect the whole community,” he said.
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