Heat on Tanya Plibersek as water cop urged to wade in over ABC ‘leak’

Deputy Nationals leader Perin Davey is urging the nation’s water cop to investigate Tanya Plibersek amid claims she shared sensitive water market information with the ABC.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Deputy Nationals leader Perin Davey is urging the nation’s water cop to investigate Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek amid claims she shared sensitive water market information with the ABC ahead of an announcement to restart controversial buybacks.

Senator Davey has written to the Inspector-General of Water Compliance, Troy Grant, to express her concern about the integrity of water markets being compromised after the ABC’s 7.30 aired a report about Labor’s plan to reopen a water buybacks program hours after Ms Plibersek confirmed plans to buy 49 gigalitres from water holders in the Murray-Darling Basin.

The program included a prerecorded interview with Ms Plibersek, who spoke about the importance of environmental water during periods of drought to help prevent extinctions “on a mass scale”, and said Labor had been approached by water holders wanting to sell entitlements back to the commonwealth.

A spokeswoman for Ms Plibersek denied the accusations and called them a “pathetic attempt” from the Nationals “to distract from the fact they spent a decade sabotaging efforts to make sure the Murray-Darling river system doesn’t run dry”.

A Senate estimates hearing in November heard almost 50GL would be recovered through buybacks as a way to meet water savings targets, after a meeting of state and federal water ministers.

Ms Plibersek also flagged potential buybacks in August when a report found just 2.6GL of 450GL of environmental water had been returned to the basin under the former Coalition government.

Senator Davey expressed concern about the timing of the program going to air on the evening the water buybacks scheme was announced, and suggested Ms Plibersek could have shared “insider” knowledge with the journalists. Buyback schemes have historically raised water prices, and Senator Davey is concerned investors could have made significant profits by purchasing water at a lower price on the expectation it would rise after it was formally announced by Labor.

“The concern arises when it appears the minister prerecorded the interview with the ABC, thereby giving ABC staff access to market-sensitive information before the public announcement of the general buyback tenders by Minister Plibersek,” she wrote.

“Therefore, anyone with this information could have entered the water market with information not yet publicly available, specifically holding the knowledge that entitlements in these catchments would soon be subject to open-tender buyback.”

Senator Davey said the issue had raised “serious concerns” about the integrity of water markets and highlighted the need for greater transparency and accountability from Ms Plibersek.

She called on Mr Grant to review correspondence between Labor and the ABC and all protocols in place to ensure “there could be no misuse of market-sensitive information and to provide confidence the process has been transparent and accountable”.

Deputy Inspector-General of Water Compliance Daniel Blacker said the agency had received the letter and he could not comment on “ongoing operational matters”. The ABC was contacted for comment.