Victoria's Water Minister Tim Holding has been pelted with eggs by angry protesters in Shepparton opposed to the Government's plan to pipe water from the state's north to Melbourne.
Mr Holding was struck by at least one egg last night as he walked past about 70 protesters outside a pro-pipeline dinner in Shepparton.
The protest capped off a day in which country Victorians expressed their anger over the State Government's water policy.
Yesterday morning in Mildura, a hostile crowd of 400 protested against Mr Holding's decision this month to abolish the 113-year-old First Mildura Irrigation Trust over financial management concerns.
Last night in Shepparton, Premier John Brumby, a keynote speaker at the pro-pipeline dinner, avoided the protesters by entering the hall by another entrance.
"He's a gutless wonder. He doesn't have the courage to face us," protester Barbara Hancox said.
"He doesn't care for the country people, he only cares for Melbourne."
Inside the venue, Mr Brumby urged Victorians to get behind what he called "this great nation-building project".
He said the $1 billion project to upgrade the northern Victorian irrigation system would revitalise Victoria's "food bowl".
The pipeline would carry only a small portion of the extra water saved by reducing leakage and wastage, Mr Brumby said.
"If we work together to deliver what is, in effect, a food bowl renaissance, a transformation of northern Victoria, we will secure this region's future, productivity and sustainability," he said.
Protest leader Mike Dalmau said the message for Mr Brumby was simple: "It's all right to have a plan to modernise the food bowl, but where is the water to be pumped to Melbourne if we haven't got enough water here to operate the system?"
Earlier yesterday, Mr Holding defended his decision to abolish the First Mildura Irrigation Trust.
The trust had significant losses from investing in subprime-exposed companies, and its powers have been overtaken by nearby Lower Murray Water.
But questions are being asked about the conduct of three senior trust managers, who were given lucrative termination deals in the dying weeks of the organisation, entitling them to 12 months' pay in the event of the trust's demise.
The Age also believes $103,000 in tax on those termination agreements was not paid, and is now the subject of a recovery action by administrators.
The trust's deposed chairman, Jim Belbin, said the deals were designed to retain good staff at a time when there was uncertainty over the trust's future.
Mr Holding said the "secret, last-minute" adjustments to the managers' contracts were a "clear breach of Government guidelines" and the money taken belonged to local irrigators.
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