“Barnaby Joyce is under fire because of an $80m deal he approved as water minister in 2017. The company that received the payment, Eastern Australia Agriculture (EAA), booked a $52m profit on the deal, much of which appears to have been transferred to its parent company in the Cayman Islands.
That company was co-founded by the energy minister, Angus Taylor, who has stated that he has no current involvement in the company and has received no benefit.
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What’s the takeaway message here?
The key point is that the Murray-Darling system is being hopelessly mismanaged and is deeply politicised. But it’s not political in the usual ways of left-right, environment v farming, or upstream v downstream politics.
Instead, it’s about the powerful and the well-connected against everyone else – communities, smaller farmers, fish, frogs, ducks and the rest of the environment. All these deals are legal, they’re just not good deals for taxpayers or the environment.
The point is that businesses that are well-connected are doing well while everyone else, including the environment, is not. While nothing less than a royal commission will get to the bottom of all the problems, we also need real improvement in the Murray-Darling, which will take a range of reforms that will only be possible with sustained political will. That will take Australians inside and outside of the basin paying attention to our greatest rivers and caring about what happens to them.
I’m actually a bit sceptical that this will happen. But if you’ve made it to the end of this article, we’re off to a good start.”
read the entire article
Slatterly, Maryanne. The Guardian 24 April 2019.