The Wire

The states have today been meeting with Federal water minister Malcolm Turnbull, on the back of the announcement that farmers in the Murray Darling Basin will get no water allocations if it doesn’t rain heartily in the next 6 weeks. And the Prime Minister’s warning that means food prices and imports will spiral. The Conservation Foundation’s Matt Ruchel says it’s no surprise the government’s threatening water cutbacks. He says the current situation is the result of government policy and says a new deal must specifically provide enough water for the environment, within a timetable.