States set to start round two of Murray Darling Basin Plan fight after Water Minister David Littleproud warning

TWO triggers that could spell the end of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan are looming, the new Water Minister has warned.

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TWO triggers that could derail the Murray-Darling Basin Plan are looming, the new federal Water Minister has warned.

Nationals MP David Littleproud, who has taken over the role from Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, said the future of the plan was at stake as the Senate prepares to vote on two key aspects within weeks.

Labor is likely to vote to disallow the legislation the Government has put in place as part of an ongoing dispute.

State Water Minister Ian Hunter says if the legislation stays, it could let NSW and Victoria walk away from commitments to the plan.

Last week a major report found that water-saving measures had the potential to benefit not just the environment but irrigators as well. That win-win situation was seen as a “pathway” that could bring the states together to agree on reforms to save the river system.

However, Mr Littleproud says any fragile peace is set to be shattered if the disallowance goes through.

The plan, which South Australia hopes will return 3200 gigalitres of water, contains flexible elements. One is the Northern Basin Review, which found the water savings should be reduced by 70GL.

Recently minted Federal Water Minister David Littleproud. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin

The other aspect up for a vote is the sustainable diversion limits, and would allow more water to be taken out of the system as long as the same environmental outcomes are delivered.

Federal Labor is set to try to block those two pieces of legislation, and state Labor is pushing for them to do so.

Mr Littleproud says disallowing the legislation would throw the plan into chaos. “We’re at a critical juncture of the plan and we can’t just pick and choose pieces of it that we want and don’t want,” he told The Advertiser.

“(The new target) gives the same environmental outcomes. It’s pragmatic, it’s science-based, it’s independent.

“I don’t want to kick this down the road. People want certainty.”

Mr Littleproud said if the legislation is thrown out it would start a new round of interstate fighting.

But Mr Hunter said that until South Australia gets a guarantee that the whole 3200GL will be delivered – including 450GL that SA wants but other states say cannot be spared – the Senate must vote to overturn the other legislation. His concern is that if the legislation stays in place, Victoria and NSW will walk away from that 450GL.

Federal Opposition water spokesman Tony Burke said he understood that the plan was meant to be flexible.

“But the flexibility can’t be all one way,” he said.