Basin communities ‘sold out’

Communities and farmers along the Murray Darling Basin have been “sold out” as a result of the passage of the federal government’s legislation to rewrite the 2012 Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

This was the NSW Irrigators’ Council’s response after amendments to the plan recently passed the Senate.

Peak national and state agricultural organisations and rural politicians have also hit back at the government and the negative impact the plan’s rewrite, including the return of water buybacks, will have on towns and villages along the basin.

Federal Member for Parkes Mark Coulton condemned the passing of amendments to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan in the Senate as ‘a dark day for Australia’.

“After furious campaigning from the Coalition and concerned community members and stakeholders to prevent the cementing of water buybacks back into the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, the Parliament has now passed this into legislation,” said a media statement released by Mr Coulton’s office.

“People with no skin in the game have today sacrificed the communities of the Murray-Darling Basin at the altar of political expediency,” Mr Coulton said.

“While Minister Plibersek and Senator Wong have a laugh and celebrate the return of water buybacks, they fail to realise the devastation they will wreak on Australian agriculture, and individual communities along the rivers.

“The idea that using water buybacks to return an extra 450 gigalitres to the river systems will prevent drought and solve all environmental problems is a myth.

“Taking water from the north of New South Wales and sending it downstream does not prevent drought and will not create a utopia, because rivers rely on rain and Australia is a land of drought and flooding rain – especially in the Northern Basin.

“What this legislation will not do is act as an environmental cure-all. What it will absolutely do is remove agricultural production, jobs and productivity from areas which are almost entirely reliant on the agriculture industry.

“Australia will pay for this ideological foolishness at the checkout, and in losses of Australian-made produce.”

The NSW Irrigators’ Council said the federal government has bulldozed the Water Amendments (Recovering Our Rivers) Bill 2023 through the Senate with only minor amendments that do little to protect Basin communities and nothing to fix the key degradation drivers still making our rivers sick.

“The Senate has cleared the way to buy up to 700 billion litres more water from farmers, on top of 2100 billion litres already recovered,” said NSW Irrigators’ Council chief executive officer Claire Miller.

“The MDBA has attributed more than 3200 jobs lost across 40 southern Basin communities to water already recovered for the environment under the Basin Plan and earlier reforms.

“And ABARES has documented how that water recovery has substantially increased costs for farmers growing our food and fibre – and how taking more out will make water too expensive too often for most farmers to stay in business.

“Farmers, workers, small business owners and local government across the Basin have shouted NO to even more buybacks, because they know from bitter past experience how buybacks have hollowed out their communities while governments went missing on promised assistance.

“Nothing in this rewrite of the 2012 Basin Plan gives these communities any reason to believe anything will be any different this time around. Cuddly ministerial reassurances and expressions of intent mean nothing when the legislation itself in practice blocks any options other than buybacks in one form or another.

“And for what? This is not a win for the environment as more water can’t be delivered where it needs to go due to constraints such as rules against intentionally flooding private property.

“Just adding more water now also will not fix the key degradation drivers, like cold water pollution, riverbank erosion, lack of fish passages, and invasive land and water species. European carp make up nine out of 10 fish in the rivers, wrecking water quality and habitat. Unless they are controlled, the rivers will remain prone to algae outbreaks and mass fish deaths, and native fish struggle to thrive, no matter how much more water is bought back from farmers.

“Construction of fish passages is desperately needed so fish can escape poor water quality in droughts and floods, but all we got is $2.3 million for yet another business case at Menindee.

“The government is putting off any action on these and other desperately needed measures and projects until after 2027 – when it will have already drained the kitty dry spending billions of dollars on unnecessary further buybacks.

“This legislation is a cynical smoke and mirrors trick at the expense of Basin communities and taxpayers, simply to meet an election promise to the South Australian government and shore up inner-city votes.”

The state’s peak farming organisation, NSW Farmers’, has also been critical of the plan’s amendments and the impact on basin communities.

Data compiled by NSW Farmers has found one megalitre of water can produce 51,000 potatoes, more than 57,000 apples, or a whopping 21,739 serves of rice.

NSW Farmers Water Taskforce chair Richard Bootle said the latest amendments to water legislation effectively eroded the contracts all states signed in the original Murray Darling Basin Plan negotiations, which were vital to protect communities and farming businesses while achieving river system recovery.