Gippsland families could be paying for the water used by large industries in the Latrobe Valley. Greens candidate Dr Malcolm McKelvie has warned that Gippsland residents should look carefully at the commercial arrangements for the Gippsland Water Factory

"I applaud the strategy of treating and recycling waste water but the cost shifting to ordinary familes is outrageous" said  Dr McKelvie. "Seventy percent of the water being treated comes from Australian Paper and they will be one of the biggest consumers of the recycled water but their water rates at set to remain the same over the next 5 years.

"The final cost of the plant will be around $200 million, of which the State has contributed $50 million. This leaves $150 million to be payed for by the other customers of Gippsland Water" said Dr McKelvie, "That means a 100% increase in water rates over the next 5 yrs for Gippsland families" .

"To add insult to injury Gippslanders should note that the Federal government recently gave the Ballarat region $150 million for water infrastructure but have not contributed a cent to this project.

"Who is standing up for Gippsland on this issue? Not the old political parties!

"This is one more example of the old political parties showing blatant favouritism towards their big corporate mates, hoping "working families" don't notice."

For comments Dr Malcolm McKelvie 0417 364 615 Greens Candidate for Gippsland By – Electionwww.cgn.org.au/Malcolm_McKelvie gippsland@greens.org.au