Plug it protest

By Melissa Meehan
PROTESTERS from the Yarra Valley joined more than 2000 people on the steps of Parliament on Tuesday to tell Premier John Brumby and Melburnians to “plug the pipe”.
Protest group Plug the Pipe organised a 800-strong convoy of utes, buses and trucks from communities across the state to voice their opposition to government plans to pipe water from the Goulburn River to Melbourne.
Many Dixons Creek, Steels Creek, and Lilydale residents joined the convoy at Yea, while others met it in the city.
Property owners from the Yarra Valley said that the proposed pipeline route would affect many farm and vineyard owners along the Melba Highway.
Some believe that the pipeline will go through vineyards that are more than 100 years old, which many say could never be replaced.
Speakers at the protest said that the 70-kilometre underground pipeline would destroy farming communities by “robbing” farmers of their water.
They called for the government to consider other options, including piping water from Tasmania and using recycled water more efficiently.
Plug the Pipe spokesman Mike Dalmau told the crowd that the pipeline would turn the state’s “food bowl into a dustbowl”.
He said the Murray-Darling Basin was in crisis and labelled Mr Brumby an “environmental vandal” for pushing ahead with the plan.
Protesters carried signs with slogans including “Brumby sucks Murray dry”, “Back off Brumby” and “Little farmers need water”, and used a mock coffin that said “RIP to the environment and rural towns” as a lectern.
Mr Dalmau called on Melburnians to join the fight against the pipeline.
“We say to the people of Melbourne, if he’s prepared to do this, who’s next?”
Colbinabbin farmer Eril Rathjen asked why any government would propose a pipeline at a time when northern communities were suffering through a devastating drought.
“By robbing farmers of their water security, they are tearing out the hearts of people’s livelihoods and destroying confidence in the future of their businesses,” she said.
Taking advantage of the protest, members of the opposition handed out anti-pipeline leaflets to commuters at Melbourne railway stations before the inner-city gathering.
Liberal leader Ted Baillieu and Nationals leader Peter Ryan also addressed the lunchtime rally.
Mr Baillieu said the pipeline was the government’s “panicked solution” after its failure to secure Melbourne’s water supply in recent years.
“The pipeline is a breach of so many commitments, it’s a breach of common sense, it’s a dumb idea and it should be plugged,” Mr Baillieu said.
Mr Ryan said the coalition backed the plan to improve irrigation and modernise the food bowl but asked, “Since when has it been government policy that if you’re going to make a decent investment in country Victoria, Melbourne’s got its slice?”
Neither Mr Brumby nor Water Minister Tim Holding spoke to the crowd. Mr Holding later issued a statement claiming that the Sugarloaf pipeline was a key part of the $2 billion irrigation upgrade.
“The Brumby Government is delivering a long-term plan to secure water for communities across Victoria,” Mr Holding said.
“We understand that some people will always oppose the Sugarloaf pipeline, but Melbourne water users are investing $300 million to modernise this irrigation system and as a result of the investment they should receive some of the benefits of the program, too.”
The Sugarloaf Interconnector Pipeline, also known as the north-south pipeline, is part of the Victorian Government’s Food Bowl Modernisation Project.
It aims to upgrade Victoria’s food bowl region and improve its ageing and leaking irrigation infrastructure by lining and automating open channels, building pipelines and replacing water flow meters.
The proposed pipeline is expected to pump 75 billion litres of water each year from Victoria’s northern food bowl to Melbourne in an effort to drought-proof the city.
Organisers of the protest said they would not rule out legal action to stop the pipeline project.