Covid ‘cruels basin plan target deadlines’

The National Irrigators Council has sounded a warning that the Murray Darling River Basin plan’s delivery date needs to be pushed back due to COVID.

Minister for Resources, Water and Northern Australia Keith Pitt.

Deadlines to bring the Murray Darling back to a healthier and sustainable level will need to be pushed back because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the country’s irrigators have warned.

The Murray-Darling Basin Plan, which requires the permanent recovery of 3200 gigalitres from irrigation by 2024, is an ­attempt to balance the need of the environment, farmers and communities along the river system.

In a letter to Water Minister Keith Pitt and Labor spokeswoman Terri Butler, the National Irrigators Council says those targets won’t be met until 2027.

Its position is backed by NSW and Victoria, which have previously said water recovery projects were not running to schedule.

Water is recovered from the river system through the buybacks of rights or the construction of water-saving infrastructure.

The letter from NIC chief executive Steve Whan notes “it is not possible to deliver these remaining elements of the basin plan, successfully, by the deadlines set.”

National irrigators Council chief Steve Whan.

“Add to that the disruption to any process involving community consultation caused by COVID-19 and we feel there is a strong case to set out now to get bipartisan agreement to new timeframes and processes,” the letter, seen by The Australian, reads.

The commonwealth must make up any shortfall by purchasing water rights if states hit the water recovery target by 2024.

There are concerns that an extension could lead to states failing to uphold their part of the plan.

“I want to be clear that we are not suggesting we should be ‘taking the foot off the accelerator’ or that states should be let off the hook for delivering commitments,” Mr Whan wrote. “Any changed timeframe should build in milestones that can be more effectively met and monitored than the current unachievable 2024 deadlines.”

Stuart Khan, a researcher at UNSW’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, said there was a degree of urgency to deliver the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and there was no use “kicking the can down the road.”

“It’s universally accepted we’re not going to meet those targets,” Professor Khan said.

UNSW School of Civil & Environmental Engineering Professor Stuart Khan.

“If these groups are willing to come together in good faith and decide how they can get back on track, I think it’s a reasonable discussion to be having.”

Jamie Pittock, at the Australian National University’s College of Science, said delaying the plan risked poorer environmental outcomes and greater uncertainty down the track. “Implementation of key measures is sliding but this could be solved if the federal government held the states to their commitments.”

Mr Whan wrote that while reluctance to change deadlines was understandable, a failure to push it back would hurt both the environment and irrigators in the long run.

The Weekend Australian reported that a review of a special account to fund water-­saving im­prove­ments, $1.8bn to save 450GL by 2024, warned it was next to impossible to reach that target.

Mr Pitt said it was important to stick with the basin plan and its targets. “I am willing to work directly with all Murray-Darling stakeholders on issues of concern but won’t be conducting discussions through the media,” he said.