FEDERAL Agriculture Minister Tony Burke has hit back at criticism he hasn't stood up for farmers on water issues.
In The Weekly Times this week, Opposition agriculture spokesman John Cobb claimed Mr Burke had not done enough to combat the water buy-back policies of Water Minister Senator Penny Wong.
“The critical problems for the Murray Darling are a combination of years of drought and decades of over-allocation,'' Mr Burke said.
“That's why the Government is determined to act to buy back water entitlements from willing sellers.''Mr Burke said these problems had been “obvious for years''.
“Yet when Mr Cobb was in government, not one millilitre of water was directly purchased by the Federal Government to be returned to the Basin.
“While Mr Cobb might prefer the years of neglect to continue, the Government is not prepared to ignore these critical needs.''
