TOORALE station in northwestern NSW is expected to be purchased by Canberra in partnership with NSW for an estimated $25 million, in response to mounting pressure on the Rudd Government to respond more quickly to the water crisis in the Murray-Darling Basin. Dams across the Warrego River on the 92,000ha cotton and grazing operation would be removed to boost flows from Queensland to the basin by up to 90 gigalitres a year. Government sources said federal Water Minister Penny Wong was anxious to make some high-profile acquisitions under the National Water Plan, which included $3 billion for allocation purchases, as criticism mounted of the Government's handling of the water crisis.
The federal and NSW governments are expected to pay the British-owned Clyde Agriculture about $25 million for Toorale when the station is auctioned in Sydney on September 11. The dams on the station would be removed from the Warrego riverbed and the huge grazing and irrigation property would, over time, be converted into a national park.
Clyde managing director John McKillop said he was aware of government interest in Toorale. "We intend to sell to the highest bidder," Mr McKillop said. "It would be a shame to see a good property like Toorale taken out of production and turned into a national park, but if that's what the taxpayers want, then so be it."
The move follows growing criticism from irrigators in southern NSW and South Australia that Canberra is failing to act to divert water from dams in the basin's relatively well-watered northern reaches to the parched south.
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http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24248231-601,00.html
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