NSW, Victoria ploy to hog 450GL of Murray Darling Basin water backfires as Ernst and Young review says put water back in the rivers

SOUTH Australia has secured a key victory in the battle to save hundreds of billions of litres of water for the Murray-Darling, which New South Wales and Victoria have been trying to block.

• Warnings Murray-Darling Basin Plan on brink of collapse
• States hit stalemate over water
• Weatherill announces Royal Commission into Murray water

SOUTH Australia has secured a key victory in the battle to save hundreds of billions of litres of water for the Murray-Darling, which New South Wales and Victoria have been trying to block.

A crucial report released Friday says the water can be delivered as part of the plan for a healthy River Murray and save the Coorong and the Lower Lakes, while also helping communities.

Water Minister David Littleproud said the report was a “pathway” to delivering the Murray-Darling Basin Plan in full.

SA has been fighting for the 450 gigalitres promised in addition to the original 2750GL in the plan but NSW and Victoria insisted it would hurt their farmers too much.

Barnaby Joyce commissioned the independent review when he was water minister. He expected it to find it impossible to return 450GL to the river system. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/The Australian

Those two states sought an independent socio-economic review into the extra water.

Former Water Minister Barnaby Joyce commissioned Ernst and Young to conduct the review, although he thought it was “impossible” to return the water to the river.

But when the 300-page Analysis of efficiency measures in the Murray-Darling Basin was released yesterday, it showed that not only was it possible to return the water, it would actually be beneficial for river communities to work more efficiently.

The Basin Plan provides $1.5 billion to fund upgrades so farms can increase their productivity and competitive advantage while saving water. The report notes the construction of upgrades would also create jobs.

EY found the water could be recovered by 2024 “on a neutral or positive socio-economic basis”.

“Infrastructure upgrades result in enhanced water efficiency and on-farm productivity for participants,” the report found.

Mr Joyce’s successor, Mr Littleproud, said the report was a “pathway” to delivering the Basin Plan in full.

“I will not play politics with this,” he said.

“Political fighting creates uncertainty which affects the lives of real people. I’ve sat around farmers’ kitchen tables and seen the strain in their eyes caused by uncertainty.”

Mr Littleproud said he would begin work with the Basin states at the Ministerial Council meeting in April.

“The EY study gives us a reference point for a frank, respectful and constructive discussion on efficiency measures and to get cracking on savings which can be made now without social or economic impacts,” he said.

State Water Minister Ian Hunter said the report should get everyone “moving forward with the Basin Plan instead of continuing to stall and argue”.

“The report makes it clear that the delivery of the 450GL is not only possible but would also yield positive benefits to communities, farms and businesses that rely on the river system,” he said.

“There are no more obstacles, so why delay any longer? EY has the framework. The Commonwealth has the money. The market has the technology. The farmers and irrigators have the will.”

The report warns that better engagement, monitoring and evaluation will be needed to ensure the targets are met.

While all states and the Commonwealth were briefly united over the Basin Plan, cracks soon emerged and by the end of last year, there was a full-blown stalemate with Assistant Water Minister Anne Ruston saying the states were on a path to “mutually assured destruction”.

Professor Mike Young, the University of Adelaide’s research chair in Water and Environmental Policy, said the report found everyone could win, even without considering the benefits to the environment.

He said if the report had found communities would be harmed, the stalemate would have continued, halting the Basin Plan halfway through. But Prof Young cautioned that there was still more to do.

“South Australians know in fact we need more than 450GL,” he said. “This gets us to where we should be as a bare minimum – then there’s a question about how much further you need to go.”

Sources have told The Advertiser they expected NSW would now get on board with delivering the full 3200GL, but they predicted Victoria would continue to play politics with the issue.

NSW Water Minister Niall Blair welcomed EY’s report, saying the Government needed to be clear that water recovery would be socially and economically positive.

“If there are opportunities for our irrigation operators to become more efficient while boosting productivity overall, then I will back them to attract this investment to regional NSW.”

The National Farmers’ Federation said increasing the water for the environment had already hurt Basin industries and communities and that it was progressively harder to save more water without harm as “most of the easy gains” had already been made.

The Victorian Government did not respond to requests for comment last night