But unlike the others times it has been put into care and maintenance, SunRice chairman Laurie Arthur says it can be avoided.
Mr Arthur said government water policy is already forcing the leading food company to rely more on its overseas product and milling facilities.
But he said that could change if the Federal Government reconsidered it's stance on removing more water from the productive pool.
“What we want to do is keep our mills open,” Mr Arthur said.
“We’ve had to go into care and maintenance twice over the last 15 years, and removing water resources out of this region is a big mistake.
“We’re worked hard to increase efficiency at our mills, and we intend to invest more in the Deniliquin mill, but that becomes hard when the government is intent on pulling 450 gigalitres of water out of this region.
“The Deniliquin mill has some great staff, and we need to let all the pollies know they can’t just pull the water out from under us.
“Water out of the system is likely to push us offshore.
“We’ve been unable to convince (Federal Water Minister Tanya) Plibersek of that, but (Leader of the Nationals David) Littleproud has strongly come out and said his government would not pursue buybacks.”
Mr Arthur met with Mr Littleproud and Shadow Minister for Water and Deniliquin-based Senator Perin Davey Thursday last week.
Mr Arthur said he was buoyed by the hour-long discussion, the pair also committed to reinstating the socio-economic test that should accompany any policy to recover water out of the basin.
“Labor has changed its own Murray-Darling Basin plan to recover an additional 450 gigalitres with water buybacks. Companies such as SunRice face a real risk of being forced offshore, exporting jobs due to Labor’s ideology, which isn’t meeting the practical reality,” Mr Littleproud told the Pastoral Times.
“A future Coalition Government will not take another 450 gigalitres from the Murray-Darling Basin.
“We will stop Labor’s water buybacks and protect our agriculture industry and local businesses.
“We will return to focusing on recovering water through water infrastructure.”
Mr Arthur said SunRice’s primary goal is to feed the world with quality rice, hopefully grown and processed in Australia.
He said the company would be willing to work with any government that wants to help reach that goal.
“If the government insists on pulling water out of the system, we need to ensure it’s not targeted in one area,” Mr Arthur said.
“It’s always the cheapest water that is pulled out of the system, and most often that is general security.
“General security water is absolutely in tune with Australian rivers. Of course, we don’t like it when we have to cut back in drier times, but we can. We’re not like permanent plantings.
“There are a number of industries that make our area great, and taking water away from our region is pulling the chair out from under all of them.
“Any government that comes out with a policy of not taking more water out of the system will get our support.
“The policies that have gone through in the last few years are pushing us offshore.
“We have high-quality markets, and we can’t tell people ‘sorry we’ve got none, we’ll be back in two years’.
“There is a certain irony we were awarded the best rural exporter of the year by government the same day Minister Plibersek made the announcement she would go ahead with buybacks,
“But you can’t have it both ways.”
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