MEDIA RELEASE – SunRice job cutbacks show real cost of water buybacks
The Riverina and Murray Joint Organisation has expressed deep concern at SunRice’s announcement that it is consulting with workers about voluntary redundancies and workforce changes across its Riverina milling and packaging operations.
RAMJO Chair Cr Ruth McRae OAM said that while SunRice was responding to reduced rice supply and drier conditions, the announcement was a clear warning about the human and economic consequences of continued water recovery from food-producing communities which has reduced water availability and artificially pushed up water prices.
“SunRice is a cornerstone employer for Leeton, Deniliquin and the wider Riverina. We understand the company is responding to commercial realities, but those realities are being driven by a policy environment that continues to remove productive water from our communities,” Cr McRae said.
“Water buybacks do not just affect irrigators. They flow through to mills, transport operators, contractors, local businesses, families and regional jobs.”
Cr McRae said RAMJO supports healthy rivers and practical environmental outcomes, but the Australian Government’s continued reliance on buybacks was damaging confidence in southern Basin communities and taking away jobs.
“The Federal Government must stop treating water recovery as a target to be chased regardless of local consequences. Food production, manufacturing jobs and regional communities must be part of the Basin Plan equation,” Cr McRae said.
RAMJO Water Sub-Committee Chair Jackie Kruger said the SunRice announcement reinforced the concerns raised in RAMJO’s submission to the Murray-Darling Basin Authority’s 2026 Basin Plan Review, and the findings of the REMPLAN case study commissioned by RAMJO into the rice industry at Leeton and Deniliquin.
“The REMPLAN case study shows why the rice industry matters well beyond the farm gate. When rice production falls, the impacts are felt across processing, freight, farm services, retail and local community life,” Ms Kruger said.
“This announcement is a sobering example of what RAMJO has been warning about. Further water recovery by buybacks, rules changes or reliability reductions will place even more pressure on productive industries and regional towns.”
Ms Kruger said RAMJO was calling for a shift away from blunt buybacks and towards practical, place-based environmental projects delivered with local government, irrigation companies, landholders, growers and communities.
“The Basin Plan must achieve environmental outcomes without stripping productive capacity from communities that help feed the nation.”
“It is imperative that the government starts to take a more intelligent, considered and strategic approach to achieving balance across the Basin,” Ms Kruger said.
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Media contacts
| Brett Stonestreet | Jackie Kruger |
| Executive Officer Riverina and Murray Joint Organisation P: 02 6023 8790 or 0408 498 534 E: ********************************** |
Chair RAMJO Water Subcommittee P: 0417 256 092 E: ************************* |
Photo courtesy of REMPLAN