450GL buyout deal: Victoria refuses to sign on to Basin agreement

Victoria has refused to sign up to an Albanese government deal that would allow water buyouts towards 450 gigalitres for environment.

National Irrigators Council chairman Jeremy Morton says the Murray Darling Basin Plan was “never about buying back the 450GL - this is a different plan”

Federal Water Minister Tanya Plibersek has gained all but Victoria’s agreement to wade into the market to buyout irrigation communities’ water to boost the Murray Darling Basin’s environmental flows.

As part of the deal, Ms Plibersek has agreed to try and push legislation through federal parliament that extends the current June 2024 deadline on delivery of the 450 gigalitres out to December 31, 2027.

The federal government will also try to extend the 2024 deadline on delivering another 605 gigalitres of supply and constraints projects out to December 31, 2026.

South Australian, Queensland and NSW Labor governments have all signed onto the agreement, but Victorian Water Minister Harriet Shing has stood firm on opposing buyouts.

Ms Shing said "Victoria has a long standing opposition to buybacks and nothing we have seen in this deal has changed that position”.

A COPY OF THE AGREEMENT CAN BE FOUND HERE

Even the NSW Government has insisted its concerns over the impacts of buyouts be included in the agreement, which states it “does not support water purchases”.

“However it (NSW) recognises that the obligation rests with the Commonwealth government to deliver the Basin Plan. Accordingly, all Basin governments will work together to build public confidence in the delivery of the Basin Plan by respecting legislated obligations.”

Ms Plibersek and the Albanese government have tried to reassure irrigators and their communities by including a clause in the agreement that states “any negative social and economic impacts from water buyouts will be countered by “providing funding for community adjustment assistance”.

Ms Plibersek said “reaching this agreement has not been easy”.

“It took co-operation from Basin Ministers, with a shared understanding of the urgency we all face. We don’t want Australians to wake up one day with a dead river system and find out their governments could’ve stopped it.”​

But National Irrigators Council chairman Jeremy Morton said the MDB Plan was “never about buying back the 450GL — this is a different plan”.

The agreement also includes a commitment that the Basin states “will deliver a package of ‘no regrets’ constraints relaxation projects that support floodplain outcomes, to be completed by 31 December 2026”.

Mr Morton questioned whether that meant just flooding riverside properties with environmental water with “no regrets”.

NSW Irrigators Council acting chief executive Christine Freak said stripping another 450 gigalitres form irrigation communities was the same as “taking nearly half of NSW high-security entitlements in the southern basin”.

MDB Authority figures show 2107 gigalitres has already been recovered from irrigation communities towards the Basin Plan target of 2750 gigalitres, with the 450 gigalitres of upwater above that target.

Ms Plibersek said legislation amending the Water Act 2007 to implement the basin states’ agreement and the Basin Plan 2012 would be introduced into the Parliament in the coming weeks.

Ms Plibersek said the government was committed to delivering the Murray-Darling Basin Plan in full, including 450 gigalitres of water for the environment.