Federal Water Minister Tanya Plibersek has brokered a deal to re-write Australia’s $13 billion Murray-Darling Basin Plan, steamrolling Victorian Labor, and allowing for the widescale resumption of controversial water buybacks and an extension to deadlines for major infrastructure projects.
The new agreement among basin states excludes Victoria, and will require New South Wales to backtrack on its previous opposition to buying back water entitlements in exchange for more time to deliver water-saving projects.
Under the agreement, the federal, NSW, South Australian, Queensland and ACT governments will seek to:
- Allow Commonwealth buybacks of irrigation licences to return 450 gigalitres (GL) of water to the environment
- Extend the deadline for recovering the 450GL target from June 2024 to December 2027
- Grant an 18-month extension to state-run water-saving projects from June 2024 to December 2026
- Allow for new water-saving projects to be established and completed by December 2026
“We know that south-east Australia in particular is getting hotter and drier … the next drought is just around the corner,” Ms Plibersek said.
“We can’t stand by and allow our threatened species, our rivers, our wetlands, and the three million people who rely on this river system for their drinking water to be unprepared for the next dry period.”
Suggestion water buybacks would cost billions
Less than 30 GL has been committed to the 450 GL target over 11 years.
Ms Plibersek would not say how much of the target would be met through water buybacks, and refused to put a price tag on buybacks, saying it could distort the market.
The federal government has previously set aside an undisclosed sum that could be used to make buybacks, which would be voluntary.
A statutory review in 2022 found it could cost almost $11 billion to meet a target of returning 450 gigalitres to the environment.
Buybacks have long been opposed by Victoria and NSW Labor governments and the federal Coalition, which argues reducing the amount of water available for farming damages regional communities.
Just weeks ago, NSW Premier Chris Minns told the state’s parliament: “We don’t want to see water buybacks used for water recovery.”
In 2018, basin water ministers agreed water buybacks could not be used to meet the 450-gigalitre environmental water-saving target because of the socio-economic harm they caused.
Since then power has changed hands in the federal, South Australian, and NSW parliaments, and today’s deal appears to abandon the 2018 agreement — which had the support of all basin states.
The new agreement will need to pass the federal parliament, with legislation expected to be introduced next month.
The government will need the support of either the Greens or the Coalition to pass the legislation in the Senate.
The Greens have previously indicated support to buy back water entitlements, but typically oppose any extensions.
The Coalition is divided.
The Nationals argue against the use of buybacks and for more time, but some Liberals — particularly at the bottom of the basin in South Australia — disagree.
It remains unclear how the government will pass the proposed agreement to amend the Murray-Darling Basin plan, with geography trumping political allegiances.
Speaking in Sydney today, Ms Plibersek said she would welcome Victoria’s support for the new agreement.
“The door remains open, we would warmly welcome their participation, there are significant benefits to signing on,” Ms Plibersek said.
Ms Plibersek described today’s agreement as an important moment for basin communities and any Australian who cared about the environment.
“The Murray-Darling pumps life into the heartland of our country,” Ms Plibersek said.
“If we don’t act now to preserve it, our basin towns will be unprepared for drought, our native animals will face the threat of extinction, our river ecosystems will risk environmental collapse, and our food and fibre production will be insecure and unsustainable.”
A decade of debate
The Murray-Darling Basin Plan was legislated with bipartisan support in 2012, setting out how water in Australia’s largest river network should be shared between the environment, farmers and community.
So far, more than 2,100GL of water each year has been allocated to the environmental water savings target of 3,200GL.
But the plan has long been off target, with the Productivity Commission warning as early as 2019 that it would not be met on time or on budget.
Ms Plibersek signalled earlier this month she would seek a legislated extension to the plan, after the Murray-Darling Basin Authority once again confirmed a major shortfall.
Based on current progress, the basin plan is on track to fall 750 gigalitres short by its legislated deadline of June next year.
Nationals Leader David Littleproud said the reintroduction of water buybacks would decimate rural communities.
“We support the extension of time to deliver water to the environment through infrastructure, that’s common sense,” he said.
“To tear up their very own plan about water buybacks on the additional 450 gigalitres will have serious impact for regional and rural communities.”
The federal Greens have demanded guarantees from the federal government in return for their support to amend the plan.
Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the Greens would study the plan before deciding if they could back it.
“We need to make sure that this parliament gets a guarantee that things will change that water will be delivered,” she said.
“If the minister can’t even get her own Labor colleagues to sign onto this, South Australians need more than the word from the minister.”
Posted , updated
