NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro says the coronavirus crisis is a good opportunity to reassess the Murray Darling Basin plan.
The Murray-Darling Basin Plan is a framework that allocates how the basin states will return at least 2,750 billion litres of water to the environment. Environmentalist claim the framework is key to ensuring the long-term health of the river system, but Mr Barilaro said the plan "puts the environment above people.
" He told Sky News the coronavirus crisis is the perfect opportunity to rethink the status quo. "We should use this crisis to let us have a water stimulus to let our farmers to grow the food and fibre we need as a nation to grow and thrive," he said. "Sometimes a crisis brings out the best policy positions." Off the back of this crisis, if anything as a nation, we must learn to be more self-sufficient in manufacturing and agriculture.
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