Labor wades into Murray-Darling water wars to woo Adelaide voters

Labor is picking a fight with the federal government over the Murray-Darling Basin in a bid to win Boothby, the marginal South Australian seat at the end of Australia’s biggest river system.

Water reform is popular in the south Adelaide electorate – won by Liberal MP Nicolle Flint in 2019 on a margin of just 1.14 per cent – which sits at the bottom of the Murray-Darling Basin and relies on flows from upstream in Victoria, NSW and Queensland to keep the river healthy.

Federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has promised $26 million to establish a national water commission to drive the reform.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

But it is highly contentious in irrigation towns, forcing politicians to strike a balance between social, environmental and economic concerns.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese waded into the debate on Friday in Adelaide with a pledge to kickstart efforts to return more water to the river system. He left the door open to voluntary water buybacks from irrigators and promised $26 million to establish a national water commission to drive the reform.

Mr Albanese said in a statement that members of the federal government had tried to “shred the [Basin] Plan” as he vowed to deliver SA’s share of water.

The Murray-Darling Basin Plan was created in 2012 to buy back water from irrigators and invest in infrastructure projects to return 3200 gigalitres to the environment amid concerns about the river system’s health.

But water recovery has stalled in recent years after pushback from irrigation communities that argue buybacks cost jobs and damage regional economies.

About 2000 gigalitres have been recovered to date under the Basin Plan. Another 450 gigalitres was due to come from irrigators by 2025, along with 600 gigalitres from engineering projects to improve the efficiency of the river system.

Buybacks were in effect progressively ruled out by the federal government from 2015, and by NSW and Victoria in 2018. Labor has been quiet on the issue for several years.

Environment groups have waged a campaign to reinvigorate water recovery, which last gained national prominence in the summer of 2018-19 when a million native fish perished as the Lower Darling River, upstream of the SA border, dried up.

Mr Albanese said on Friday Labor would deliver on the final 450 gigalitres of water for the environment that Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce had “failed to deliver”.

“South Australians haven’t forgotten that Barnaby Joyce told them to ‘move to where the water is’ during the millennium drought,” he said.

Federal Water and Resources Minister Keith Pitt said Labor’s announcement was “all about the politics of the Murray-Darling and nothing to do with the communities”.

“Anthony Albanese is sacrificing communities and jobs throughout the Murray-Darling Basin to chase a few extra votes in Adelaide,” Mr Pitt said.

Mr Pitt raised eyebrows among both farmers and environmentalists on April 1 when he announced the appointment of gas lobbyist Andrew McConville, who was chief executive of the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association for the past three years, to lead the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, which is responsible for the Basin Plan.

The federal government in 2018 created regulations that in effect ruled out buying more water from farmers but last year slapped down an attempt by the Nationals to enshrine the rules in law.

Liberal SA senator Simon Birmingham said at the time the government “stands resolute” in its commitment to deliver the Basin Plan “in full and on time”.

He said on Friday the 2000 gigalitres returned to the river so far was a “significant achievement” and the government was now focused on the “most challenging of infrastructure projects left across the basin” needed to deliver the outstanding water recovery.

Victorian Water Minister Lisa Neville criticised federal Labor’s announcement on Friday and said she was “confident NSW and ourselves would not agree to any of those changes”.

Federal Labor water spokesperson Terri Butler said she “will work co-operatively with the states to deliver the agreed water commitments”.

Greens SA senator Sarah Hanson-Young welcomed Labor’s announcement, saying the Nationals could not be trusted with water governance.

“The recent appointments of their Nationals mates and fossil fuel lobbyists onto Murray-Darling Basin review panels show that this is not going to change anytime soon,” she said.

The National Irrigators’ Council warned Labor against a “breach of faith” with irrigation towns, arguing the government had passed regulations that precluded water recovery judged to have a negative socio-economic effect on local economies.

The Basin Plan requires water recovery to be completed by 2025. Council chief executive Isaac Jeffrey called for Labor to allow an extension “as a sign of good faith and an acknowledgement of the hard work and sacrifice” of irrigators.

Jacqueline Maley cuts through the noise of the federal election campaign with news, views and expert analysis. Sign up to our Australia Votes 2022 newsletter here.