Irrigators rebuffed on low interest loans plan

Posted November 8, 2007 09:39:00

The South Australian Murray Irrigators group says the Federal Government has knocked back its proposal for a long-term low interest loans scheme for growers.

Group spokesman Tim Whetstone says federal Agriculture Minister Peter McGauran and the Minister for the Environment and Water, Malcolm Turnbull, have indicated they will not support the scheme.

Mr Whetstone says without the loans scheme, many irrigators cannot afford to buy extra water to keep their crops alive.

"Malcolm Turnbull's indicated that the water market is working just fine and we feel as though that is absolute rubbish," he said.

"I am gutted to the bone, it's just sad for the region, it's sad for the whole river within South Australia because at the moment we're struggling at 16 per cent allocation."

Tags: federal-government, irrigation, renmark-5341