The Age (Dec 3) carries a story about The Basin Communities Association, wherein it is disclosed that the "association" shares its head quarters with the NSW Irrigators' Council, and that until recently the Irrigators Council chief executive (Andrew Gregson) was its President and Secretary. But don't worry...
Mr Gregson denied the association was a front group and said the irrigators "don't own it, don't run it, we are not on the board of it, we just run logistical support".
The board includes Malcolm Jackman, head of rural giant Elders; Scott James, head of Westpac's agribusiness sector; Ray Najar, a civil engineer who works in irrigation and water resource management and is chairman of the Australia Arab Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Ross McPherson, the Shepparton-based regional newspaper magnate and one of the architects of Victoria's controversial $2 billion foodbowl plan; a local Griffith irrigator and a regional financial planner.
For a moment there I was concerned that this was not a true community based organisation as implied by the name.
I guess strictly speaking it isn't a front group. The correct term is probably puppet.
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