Basin buyback rush: Watt targets 400GL by end of 2026
In a dramatic expansion of Murray Darling water recovery, Minister Murray Watt has revealed plans to acquire 400GL by next year - twice the current target.
The federal government plans to strip another 130 gigalitres of water entitlements from Murray Darling Basin communities, as it rushes to deliver another 450GL towards boosting environmental flows.
In addressing Monday’s Basin Leaders Summit in Adelaide, federal Water Minister Murray Watt said “this expansion takes the program from 170GL up to 300 GL, towards the 450GL target”.
“We now have plans in place to recover over 400 of the 450GL target by the end of next year,” he said.
He said the voluntary water recovery to reach this target would come from expressions of interest the government had received in previous rounds of offers to sell from irrigators and corporate water holders in the southern-connected basin, rather than opening up a new round of EOIs.
Just how much of the water on offer is at an affordable price to Australian taxpayers remains a mystery.
National Irrigators Council chief executive Zara Lowien said communities were “frustrated that the minister made the decision to increase the scale and pace of water buybacks”.
“Particularly so, given the recent Basin Plan evaluation results suggest more water is not the solution to many of the environmental challenges in the Basin”.
Ms Lowien said that for Minister Watt “to make the announcement to Basin leaders who were gathered, proactively, to discuss solutions to address basin health was a slap in the face”.
While Mr Watt has agreed to accelerated purchases from the existing pool of offers, his own Department of Climate Change, Energy and Environment’s website fails to give a clear indication of just how much water has been recovered towards the 450GL target.
DEECA’s website includes one page on the voluntary purchasing program that states as of October 31 it had recovered 120GL in long-term diversion limit equivalent entitlements towards the 450GL under the voluntary water purchasing program, plus another 78.2GL in over-recovered water from the bridging the gap 2075GL target, bringing the total to almost 200GL.
Unfortunately DCCEEW’s progress reports also state it has recovered 157.6GL to date and needs to recover another 292.4GL to meet the 450GL target.
Victorian Liberal member for Northern Victoria Wendy Lovell said: “These buybacks will reduce water availability to irrigators in the Goulburn Murray system, drive up the cost of water to irrigators, reduce food production, and cost local jobs in our region.”
