Barnaby Joyce’s dam water set to cost 100 times more than market rates
theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/may/28/wo...
theguardian.comPosted May 27, 2022, 11:26 PM UTC
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theguardian.comDisgusting that a public servant that leads the "Nationals", which is meant to represent farmers, is profiteering off of natural resources while those down at the Murray-Darling basin suffer is beyond me.
Goes to show the firm grip these blokes have despite the damage they do to rural Australia.
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Nationals have no interest in farmers, unless they are multinational Almond conglomerates who want to drain the Murray, or Coal farmers, or oil farmers. Or foreign agriculture land buyers. I mean this isn’t even satire. When the nationals say they support Agriculture, this is what they mean. Not your uncles cattle farm.
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Pretty much. As mining got bigger out here ($$$$$), they pivoted to the minerals sector, abandoning farmers - but still using them as some sort of Banjo Patterson-esque branding.
Few of the Nats leadership have any farming background. Barny is an accountant, and McCormack is a journo, as is Chester. Littleproud is an agribusinesses banker.
There's no people who actually relied on farming - you know, as in "If this storm hits my wheat before I strip it me and my family's fucked", not hobby farmers for whom ag is a quaint side hustle - a few dozen head of Angus or dorpers.
It's why the SFF has been slowly gathering momentum.
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Yep, they are typical neoliberals just in big hats, and boots that have never seen a days work.
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It also shows unfortunately how unaware or equally ignorant the people are that keep voting him back in.
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It really boggles my mind how the Nationals didn't lose a single seat. How the hell do these people keep getting elected?
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If I'm being honest: it's just as much every other party's fault as the voters.
Pretty much the strategy for the bush is "Welp, that's Nats territory, no point in contesting it".
Of course, they won't turn down candidates who want to run, but the level of support is basically "Eh, here's some T-shirts, $500 worth of credit for flyers at Vistaprint, and a pre-paid mobile with $10 worth of credit on it. Call us if by some miracle you win."
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Fair point.
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I wonder if Barnaby will be able to stay sober during his ICAC appearances. I hear they're quite long which could be a problem for him if he doesn't invest in a hip flask.
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He’ll rig up a beer hat and have someone dropping by to refresh the cans as he finishes them.
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Oh god the thought process of those hearings with Jordies documentaries being played full length is exciting.
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Isnt it amazing how all these politicians have dams full of water and overseas non tax paying accounts but the citizens get charged if they put a 1 inch pipe into the river. Its almost like nestle versus the indian farmers but with less media support.
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Our last 10 years have been insane, but the past 3 years has been running on steroids of politicians lining their own pockets and securing their mates tax payer $$. In what other 1st world country would a decision to build a multi billion dollar Dam be down to "because I say we are going to build it" and feasibility studies will not make any difference because Barnaby says it is needed? Where was the rest of his party to perform a sanity check and keep him under control. Maybe the USA, but even in the USA there would have been opposition.
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Follow the money.
Which of Baaarnaby's mates is going to make a lrge profit out of this?
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Peel Valley irrigators.
And Namoi Valley coalminers and cotton farmers.
One of the theories is that environmental flows that go out of Peel are done to look good (environmental flows are good!)...
...but the Peel flows into the Namoi.
And the Namoi is under a different water use agreement. Which may decide to use that water for other things...like washing coal.
Some people think it's just offsite storage for the miners, where it's less likely to be scrutinised by people worried about the use of water in mining.
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Before the election Barnaby said he wasn't interested in the cost/benefit for Hells Gate dam, it was going to be built.
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That's been the issue with these dams.
The normal route is:
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See if there's a problem.
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If there is a problem, do options analysis to see what options you have in fixing that problem.
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Select an option from that analysis as a solution to said problem.
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Undertake solution.
In this case, they've started with Step 3, and hope to fill in Steps 1 & 2 after they've done Step 4. For Dungowan, they specifically ignored (as called out in the water inquiry), alternate solutions - like buying back water at $1500/ML.
It's all very Bjelke-Petersen: "DON'T YOU WORRY ABOUT THAT!"
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It's all very Bjelke-Peterse
I think Bjelke had a policy of a dam in every electorate. The ones he controlled that is.
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I'm of the impression that nobody has justified that we don't need more dams (in general) if we are to sustain population growth, and Joh's dam project may have been one of the few good things he did.
I'd be keen to read an actual tear-down of the topic - is there an analysis anywhere?
One huge criticism I am aware of is the manner in which this is being approached and who it caters to - this snippet is about a different dam (Emu Swamp dam), but seems it could be a relevant issue:
"Opponents of the project – including some local residents and operators of small farms – say taxpayer funds should be spent on alternative water security measures, not a dam privately owned and run by large-scale irrigators."
And this statement by the QLD State government outlines some issues with the Paradise Dam saga.
It seems dams are important infrastructure projects that are prone to mismanagement in a number of ways.
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I'd be keen to read an actual tear-down of the topic - is there an analysis anywhere?
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=371005248405999
I was in a the Bjelke-Petersen Government that built a mine, dam and rail line every year.
This is the Queensland Way.
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Barnaby Joyce-Petersen.
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We need an ICABJ straight away. I hear most of the Liberals are willing to cross the floor and vote for it.
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He didn't pocket anything.
But isn't there some Cayman island bank account that gained money?
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But isn't there some Cayman island bank account that gained money?
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Does it pass the sniff test, though?
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I'm glad we've still got some shrewd businessmen in the government that are able to pull of profitable deals like this, even after the loss.
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Oh, this was on the cards long before the election. It started several years ago, and arguably had its genesis when Barny got back in after Tony Windsor, and he got jealous of all the actual stuff that go done under Tony's watch.
There's no bronze plaques with Barney's name on them.
Windsor got the hospital upgraded, and the cancer centre put in at Tamworth, and had Tamworth on the books for full FTTP NBN (which was due to go through even if the government changed but Barny specifically cancelled it.)
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Anyone who pays 10× the value for piece of land that belongs to a donor has my vote. That's how you do business
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So this person thinks it is going to cost over $100 000 a megalitre just to operate the dam. Where are his breakdown in costs?
Those dam operators must be highly paid. However even at $57000/Ml build cost does seem very high and not viable. However there would be a beneficial outcome for business in that town. No different to some government building sports stadiums. No real long term value in those things.
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Where are his breakdown in costs?
Where are Barnaby's?
They're locked up in a business case the public's not allowed to see.
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He will send them via text messages
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The new $1.27bn Dungowan Dam, championed by Barnaby Joyce in his New South Wales electorate of New England, is expected to cost the equivalent of $162,000 per megalitre, compared to a current market rate of $1,500/ML, if cost recovery is pursued, a water expert has estimated.
Couldn’t even read the first paragraph hey?
Collins, who calculated the $60,000 cost per megalitre in the inquiry’s report has updated the figure based on the increased funding announced by Joyce last month, which doesn’t include operating costs of the dam.
The cost per mega-litre doesn’t even include the operating costs of the dam which makes your comment of:
So this person thinks it is going to cost over $100 000 a megalitre just to operate the dam
Seem really ignorant.
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It’s not just based on operation, it’s based on construction, says so in the article.
It’s analysing the cost of construction vs the relative amount of water it will deliver beyond what is already delivered by existing infrastructure. Ie it will costs millions and deliver not much benefit relative to its cost.
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Where are his breakdown in costs?
https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/water-reform-2020/report/water-reform-2020.pdf
The justification for the project is to ensure water security for Tamworth while maintaining access for general security irrigators. However, doing so through the proposed dam is likely to be costly relative to the value of that water. The project is estimated to provide an additional 6 GL of water a year (on average) which, based on current market prices for general security entitlements, would cost about $11 million.c If the additional water from the project were sold to irrigators at full cost, it would cost more than $60 000/ML. Moreover, as the proposed project is within a fully-allocated water system, it will result in an implicit (and expensive) transfer of water. Any infrastructure that improves reliability for one user will affect water availability for others. In this case, the feasibility study identified that a larger storage would lead to the Peel water sharing plan cap becoming binding, thereby reducing supplementary access (water extractions during infrequent high-flow events) for Namoi River irrigators (GHD 2017, p. 19). a The study assumed that the current pipeline is replaced under the base case, and the estimated project benefit–cost ratio includes the avoided cost of this capital (GHD 2017, pp. 54–55). b Based on 75 per cent reliability, Peel General Security entitlement price of $1341/ML (2018-19 weighted average Peel General Security entitlement price (Aither 2019)), and a maximum potential shortfall of 5.5 GL a year by 2065. c Based on 75 per cent reliability and a Peel General Security entitlement price of $1341/M
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From one of the linked articles:
And:
And finally from the current article:
Basically Joyce was still up to his old tricks of focusing on the big business of regional Australia rather than the actual people.
Any time you make something into an "investment asset" you'll doom it to international investors and market forces beyond control.