Boothby at risk if federal Coalition gets River Murray politics wrong: SA Water Minister David Speirs
The Morrison government’s junior partner must be pulled into line, the PM’s been warned, as SA Liberal and Labor MPs recoil at a shock attack on the state’s water rights.
SA News
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Prime Minister Scott Morrison should intervene if necessary to bring the Nationals into line on the River Murray or risk losing Boothby at the next federal election, South Australia’s Water Minister warns.
David Speirs says there is “no doubt” the National Party pulled a “stunt” in parliament but he is concerned the sentiment behind a push to blow up the Murray-Darling Basin Plan could be problematic over the crucial next three years.
“I think we need some leadership from Barnaby Joyce and potentially intervention from the Prime Minister because the availability of water, both for irrigators and the environment, is a nation-building resource,” Mr Speirs said.
“We need to have the leaders of this nation knuckling down, delivering on the plan and getting away from political stunts. My messages is really clear to the Nationals: Stick with this plan, it is working.”
Mr Speirs’ plea has been echoed across the political divide. In a rare show of unity last week, SA federal MPs and senators vowed to jointly defy the Nationals’ push to drastically change the plan by scrapping a requirement to recover 450 gigalitres of water for the health of the river.
Liberal senator Anne Ruston has called on “everyone to put the politics aside … because blowing up (the plan) serves no one’s interest”.
“We must remain committed to ensuring the sustainability of this river system for future generations,” she said.
Her Senate counterpart, Labor’s Penny Wong, has urged Mr Morrison to “spell out how he will deliver the water promised to the River Murray in full and on time”.
“It’s obvious that as long as Mr Joyce has power to cut deals at the highest levels of government, SA’s water security and the health of our river is in danger,” she said.
But Mr Joyce has denied asking Nationals MP Damian Drum to move amendments to the plan. Mr Drum claimed “the science no longer supports SA needing freshwater”.
“If I designed that, it would have actually worked,” Mr Joyce said.
When asked if he wanted the plan renegotiated or he thought it would be, Mr Joyce replied: “No, I don’t.”
Mr Speirs backed federal Water Minister Keith Pitt, a Nationals MP from Queensland, to remain in the role after an impending reshuffle. “We’ve had more action under Keith Pitt than any other minister in recent years,” Mr Speirs said.
“The broader National Party worries me and I really do believe that there could be political implications for the Coalition in SA if (we don’t get this) right.”
The Liberal Party has not lost the marginal seat of Boothby since 1943 but it would be at risk if the Coalition mishandled river politics, according to Mr Speirs, whose state seat of Black sits within the electorate.
“My message to the federal Coalition is you’re only one seat away from minority government,” Mr Speirs said.
“You must get the politics of the river right, you must get the sustainability of the river right, in order to ensure its not an issue leading into the Boothby election.”
With the deadline for the Murray-Darling Basin Plan only three years away, Mr Speirs said it may be time to start discussing the next steps for the river.
“My view is that we should have a second plan and it should be positioned around a climate-resilient basin, taking into consideration the projected reduced inflows as a consequence of climate change, and really build on the success that has been achieved in the plan today,” Mr Speirs said.
“The “vast bulk of water” would be recovered by 2024 but Mr Speirs said SA would be flexible if some projects needed more time.
“You wouldn’t want a significant number of those but I’m the first to say that if there are projects that need to land in 2025 or 2026 of the 450GL and possibly a couple of bits and pieces of the 605GL, that’s OK,” he said.
“I would be willing to compromise on some timelines if projects were well advanced but if projects were languishing or failing, buybacks would have to be used.”
The next steps for the river after 2024 will be yet another flashpoint for tensions with the Nationals.
Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie this week gave a fiery speech to the Senate warning anyone calling for a “Basin Plan No. 2” to forget it.
“You will never, ever be able to come back into our communities and take water,” Senator McKenzie said.
She said Australia had the information necessary to ensure that the 2100GL of water already recovered under the plan would be used more efficiently for environmental outcomes and agriculture.
“It’s about being smarter, not using the blunt instrument of numbers alone to justify your commitment to the environment, which is what they’re doing,” she said.
“The 450GL was never guaranteed as Labor and the Greens would have you believe. It was always conditional on no negative socio-economic impacts.”
But Finance Minister Simon Birmingham this week said he did not think Senator McKenzie would be in the water portfolio.
He said he was deeply disappointed by some comments from his Nationals colleagues and that the proposed changes needed to stop.
– with James Campbell
Riverland reels at renewed Murray madness
By Caleb Bond
The woman charged with managing the irrigation of Renmark’s booming agricultural industry “almost shuddered” when she heard the Nationals wanted to rewrite the country’s water policy.
Renmark Irrigation Trust general manager Rosalie Auricht and presiding member Humphrey Howie knew it would “upset” locals – and believed it could affect the health of the river.
“The thing about environmental water is that it is there for everybody,” Mr Howie says.
“It’s not just there for one part of the population.
“It’s a national asset and should be treated as such.”
He believes the 450GL of water due to be bought back will not take away jobs, but help create new jobs in other industries such as tourism.
Ms Auricht has seen the dark consequences of the river being ill and has no desire to let it happen again.
“No one wants to go back to that millennium drought period,” Ms Auricht said.
“That was terrible and, you know, people took their own lives because they just could not see a way out and I think that’s really sad.
“The Murray Darling Basin Plan is making sure we don’t have to revert back to that.
“We certainly believe the Basin Plan needs to be delivered in full.”
James Copeland’s houseboat hire business, Green and Gold Houseboats, has boomed recently thanks to people taking holidays in their own state rather than overseas.
He is cognisant of how important the health of the river is to his livelihood.
If the Murray were to end up in trouble, he says his business would be a quarter of what it is now.
“It’s all about the public perception of what’s going on with the river,” Mr Copeland says.
“Without the river, tourism dries up. We have equal right to the Murray like everybody else and we’re on the tail end so don’t forget about us.
“It doesn’t mean you can use all of it. It’s there for everybody.
“We’re one country – Australia. Where the Murray flows, it has to maintain itself.”
James Schober, who runs River Gum Cruises in Waikerie, also relies on the water for his living.
He believes cotton and rice should not be grown in Australia and criticises upstream farmers for being less water efficient than South Australians.
“They’re getting away with that and they’re still demanding more,” Mr Schober says.
“If the river is not moving, it’s not cleaning itself. A healthy river is a river that flows.”
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