“Our river system is running on empty”

2nd June 2008

An anti North-South Pipeline protest convoy headed for Victoria’s Parliament today is carrying country Victorians who hope to give the Brumby Government a reality check. But they are expecting the reality check will come through public opinion as they say Brumby has stopped listening.

“It’s only the weight of public opinion and the prospects of electoral defeat which will make Brumby listen,” said Plug The Pipe Spokesperson Mrs Eril Rathjen. “We are coming to Melbourne to tell Melbournians just how wrong his water plans are.”

“Our river system is running on empty but Brumby continues to plan the building of a pipeline from the Goulburn River to Melbourne.”

“Brumby is so out of touch and deceitful that he has talked the Prime Minister into exempting the Goulburn River from the National Plan to save the Murray Darling Basin. We can only conclude that the Goulburn will not be saved it will be plundered”  

“He is in denial about CSIRO reports which predict that runoff in the Goulburn Catchment may decline up to 44%. His water Minister, Tim Holding is reported in the Age as being confident that rainfall will return to the long term average. When it suits him though, he talks about climate change making dams redundant because there won’t be the rainfall to fill them.”

“Lake Eildon which supplies the Goulburn River and now Bendigo and Ballarat is currently at 13.5% capacity. Bendigo reservoirs are at 12.8% despite being now topped up from the Goulburn. Likewise Ballarat’s storages are at 7.3%. To say that Eildon can supply Melbourne and Geelong as well is either dumb or deceitful.”

“Still we are confident that the public is seeing through Brumby and Holding. Their reality check is in the mail,” concluded Mrs Rathjen.

Note: Mrs Rathjen will be lead speaker at today’s protest Muster and will be joined by Liberal Leader Ted Baillieu, Nationals Leader Peter Ryan and Simon Ramsay of the VFF.

Contact: Eril Rathjen          0488 329 266

               Jeff Spencer           0418 328 108

               Mike Dalmau          0417 588455

Four Generations of the Maxted Family from Durham Ox,

"We will be at the muster, our future depends on it!"