Murray Darling Basin Plan: Labor, Greens broker deal

Irrigation communities will be watching closely this week as the federal government attempts to ram its changes to the Murray Darling Basin Plan through parliament.

Federal Water Minister Tanya Plibersek and Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young hold a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The federal government and the Greens have reached a deal on the contentious Murray Darling Basin Plan, in a bid to get legislation through the Senate this week.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek is now urging all crossbenchers to back the amended Restoring our Rivers Bill, saying it “has to pass this week”, warning of the potential consequences for the river system if not.

Under the amendments agreed to, the government could allocate up to 700 gigalitres of water currently used for farming to the environment through buybacks.

The deal includes $100m allocated to help First Nations Australians participate in the water market, and a legislated commitment to return 450GL of water a year by December 2027.

The Greens’ water spokeswoman, Sarah Hanson-Young, appearing in a joint press conference with Ms Plibersek, said the commitment was a “breakthrough” that would deliver “more water for the river across the entire basin, north and south”.

Federal Water Minister Tanya Plibersek and Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young hold a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

“For over a decade, the Murray Darling Basin Plan has not delivered what it promised to deliver,” she said.

“These amendments and the commitments that we’ve been able to negotiate with the government today will restore health to the river and trust in the plan. That’s absolutely essential.”

Ms Plibersek thanked the Greens for their collaboration.

“We know we’re going into another hot, dry spell. We’ve seen the consequences of that in the past with the mass fish kills, with the 400-year-old trees dying and dry river banks for the towns that have had dry riverbeds for more than a year at a time,” she said.

“We know that as we go into another hot dry spell, it is more critical than ever that we deliver fully on the Murray Darling Basin Plan.”

Ms Plibersek would not reveal how much it would cost taxpayers to buy back the extra water but said it offered certainty for the future.

Since the $13m plan was legislated in 2012, more than 2100GL of water a year has been allocated to the environment, with a 750GL/year shortfall remaining.

The Coalition’s water spokeswoman Perin Davey slammed the government for scrapping the water buyback cap and the socio-economic test for Murray Darling Basin communities.

She said regional and rural Australians deserved answers, and warned of the flow on effects for all Australians.

“This minister is taking the lazy option and resorting to fire back the quickest, the simplest, but the most costly to communities,” she said.

Nationals leader David Littleproud reiterated warnings that water buybacks would hurt rural communities in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.

Speaking after this morning’s announcement, Mr Littleproud, a fierce opponent of the reintroduction of water buybacks, aired concerns that the plan would “destroy” regional communities by driving up food costs.

“People have got to understand that farmers will be okay in this, they get paid for the water and they walk away and they go to the coast and they have a great time. It’s the communities that are left behind. It’s the irrigation shop, it’s the machinery dealer. It’s even the cafe owner because there are not as many jobs,” he said.

“But this is going to drive up your cost of living because if you take away water from farmers, it costs more to produce and you are going to pay for it.”