Taking Care As Year Draws to a Close
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MICHAEL McCORMACK MP Putting the Riverina first December 2011 Taking care as year REGION WELCOMES NEW draws to a close RECYCLING PLANTS THE year is almost over and what an TWO important recycling facilities were interesting one it has been. opened in the Riverina recently which will bring enormous benefits for the Kurrajong’s Chaston Street e-waste site environment as well as creating new is situated alongside the aluminium, With the weather getting and long-term jobs. The minority Government managed to warmer parents are cardboard, glass and paper facility where hang on but only because it sold out to the the fortnightly household pick-ups are Greens and did deals with Independents in reminded not to leave taken for recycling. order for unpopular Prime Minister Julia children in vehicles, even if It was a tremendous honour to participate Gillard to keep her job. in both events, on behalf of Valmar at The new plant specialises in all things only to duck into a shop for Tumut and Kurrajong Waratah at Wagga But the arrangements Labor has made are Wagga. electronic from mobile telephones, to by no means cosy. It isas dangerous little andas itfive is against minutes. the law. computers to the destruction of electronic On a typical Riverina Summer day, the Both organisations provide meaningful Many Labor MPs are seething about the data. temperature inside a parked car can employment for many disabled members influence of Greens’ Leader Senator Bob be up to 40°C hotter than the outside of the community who in turn play a Valmar services Tumut and Tumbarumba Brown and have threatened to preference temperature. significant role in reducing the amount Coalition candidates above Greens at the of material going into landfill while Shires and last year collected 2700 tonnes next election … may it be held soon! TheYou wouldRiverina not has put ayour bright kids future. in an oven … generating vital and in some cases new to be processed. so why leave them in a locked car? income streams for the charities they Riverina voters have a healthy dislike for serve. The marvellous efforts by Valmar staff the Greens and with good reason … two of has substantially lessened the amount of the biggest decisions made this year will Everyone wins: the community, the Wagga Wagga has no equal as an education charities, the environment and the material which would otherwise end up at have a damaging and lasting effect on family and training centre in regional Australia. budgets, incomes and jobs. workers. the rubbish dump. The Murrumbidgee and Coleambally UNVEILED (left): Doing the honours at The Labor-Green-Independents’ carbon Irrigation Areas are the dinner plate of the tax will make many Australian industries nation. the Valmar opening with (from left) Chief (including agriculture) uncompetitive Executive Officer Hugh Packard, then Tumut and will ultimately do nothing for the Nowhere else in Australia grows the range Mayor Trina Thomson and Plant Manager environment while Labor has also badly and quality of the food produced in the west John Stanfield (obscured). failed the water test. of our fine region. To the east, and up into the Snowy PROUD MOMENT: Admiring the official Your voice is being heard in Parliament – I plaque following the opening of Kurrajong have spoken in more than 125 debates in Mountains, taking in Gundagai , Waratah’s new e-recycling centre with the past year (among the highest number Tumbarumba and Tumut Shires, a more of any MP in the Parliament) including picturesque area you would not find (from left) Business Services Manager Alan those of greatest concern to local people: anywhere and it is no wonder these parts Larcombe, Chairman Michael Kennedy health, education, the cost of living, jobs, are such a tourist destination any time of OAM and deputy chief executive officer Ray year. our youth, defence, water and food security. Carroll. I look forward to continue lobbying on your As the year nears its end, thoughts turn Out Coolamon, Ganmain, Junee, Marrar, behalf in 2012 for our fair share. Narrandera, Temora, West Wyalong and to Christmas, parties and well-earned Ungarie way the crops and livestock are holidays. renowned for being the best when the seasons allow. We are indeed fortunate to live in the best With many people on the roads, please part of this great country. exercise care and caution. Obey the rules, buckle up, stay under the speed limits, do So make the most of any well-earned not drink and drive and be mindful to take downtime if you are able to get some and regular rest breaks when travelling. That let’s hope 2012 brings some welcome way everyone will arrive safely. change and good times ahead. A timely warning regarding water safety: Finally, have a happy and peaceful Never, ever be complacent. Christmas and I look forward to working for you and with you in the New Year. Backyard pools can be deadly. Pool owners should make certain everything is compliant and secure, especially fences and Michael McCormack MP gates. Learning how to resuscitate could save someone’s life … perhaps that of your Federal Member for Riverina own child. Also, make sure to always be sun smart and slip, slop, slap. MICHAEL McCORMACK mp Putting the Riverina first Why place Batlow at risk? No water: no food! RECENT reports suggested irrigators – the people who FAR FROM APPLES AS DISTRICT THREATENED grow the food and fibre to feed and clothe this nation – will be forced to deliver even more water to the Murray- go about destroying the very reason for the existence of Darling. those wonderful and once booming towns ... nor should Fire blight can destroy an entire orchard in a single The Australian Government needs to urgently review its they. growing season. An outbreak would devastate Australian quarantine protocols to ensure our biosecurity measures Meanwhile, the report from the inquiry by the House of horticulture, cause considerable environmental harm and are the tightest and toughest they can be. Too much is at This follows a decision by the Labor Government to secretly Representatives Standing Committee on Regional Australia be impossible to eradicate. stake not to do this. Australia’s reputation as a fresh food undercut the value of irrigators’ water. headed by Independent Member for New England Tony producer, thousands of livelihoods and the future of our Now that Labor has opened the way for apples to be Windsor, which was tabled on 2 June, still awaits formal own export markets are all at risk. Water Minister Tony Burke cut exchange rates on water imported from New Zealand, every possible precaution to recognition, and its 21 recommendations have not been bought under the Government’s $3.1 billion water protect Australia’s disease- and pest-free status must be We cannot have our proud, sustainable and viable acted upon. purchasing program. Bureaucrats, it seems, slashed the taken and vigorously maintained. industries, indeed whole towns, ruined because our Federal average annual volume of water irrigators’ high and general Every day, despair and uncertainty grow in the Coleambally Government did not do more under WTO rules which It is of grave concern that three out of the first 13 security entitlements delivered to the environment, yet and Murrumbidgee Irrigation Areas. Every day, more would have made quarantine protocols far more stringent consignments of New Zealand apples were denied entry. failed to notify irrigators or even state governments. investment is put on hold. Just the other day I was told of a than they are now. That is a damning rejection rate. Australia originally barred significant Riverina development which has been held over The reductions in the environmental value of water were 12 apple imports after discovering in 1919 the bacterial Our apple industry is not scared of competition ... in fact – for who knows how long – because of genuine fears about per cent for the Murrumbidgee and nine per cent for New disease fire blight in fruit from New Zealand. it has been investing heavily to gear up for the arrival of future water availability and security. South Wales Murray irrigators. Not only does this erode New Zealand apples. However, our growers are extremely Prime Minister Julia Gillard, addressing the New Zealand the value of water already recovered, it effectively means concerned they will be unnecessarily exposed to the risk of Parliament on 16 February this year, announced Australia irrigators must now deliver even more to meet the basin pests and diseases when more can be done within the WTO would lift the 90-year ban. plan of an additional 2800 gigalitres for the environment. rules to reduce that risk. When will Labor stop giving in By 18 August, just a day after the all clear was given, As NSW Irrigators’ Council chief executive officer Andrew There is something to be said for States declaring to the Greens, whose uncosted, seven permits had already been issued to New Zealand Gregson said: “Just like the guide (to the basin plan), this quarantine areas (similar to fruit fly zones) in fruit-growing orchardists. was done entirely without consultation. Like the guide, it irresponsible policies would regions such as around Batlow and the Murrumbidgee will not be received well by the tens of thousands whose NZ DELEGATION: Inspecting an Australian export- Irrigation Areas. destroy regional communities, Later that same month, a live insect pathogen and jobs rely on this, by the family farms that risk closure or by approved Hawke’s Bay region apple orchard with potentially fire blight-carrying leaf matter had already As if Batlow’s apple industry was not in the grip of enough the fresh food buyer whose weekly shopping bill goes up.” place our ability to feed been found in one of the first consignments of New Zealand (from left) Pipfruit New Zealand Chief Executive uncertainty, a devastating hail storm which lasted 20 apples bound for Australia.