Basin water recovery scheme faces massive $1.3bn cost blowout
The Albanese government's plan to recover 450GL to boost the Murray Darling Basin’s environmental flows faces a $1.3 billion blowout.
The cost of draining 450 gigalitres from irrigation communities to boost environmental flows is set to blow out to $2.875 billion, according to an independent panel commissioned by the Albanese government.
The panel’s third review of the Water for the Environment Special Account found that while the government had increased its original $1.575bn, the total that was now on the table was still not enough to reach the target by the legislated deadline of December 31, 2027.
As at September 30, 170GL of the 450GL target had been purchased.
While the remaining 280GL could be recovered by the deadline, the panel this week warned “achieving this outcome will be challenging and is far from certain”.
“Whether the government does so [meets the target] will depend largely on how it balances its obligation under the Water Act to take all reasonable steps to increase environmental water by 450 GL/y with its other obligations and priorities, as well as budget considerations.”
The government has already recovered 2075GL under the Murray Darling Basin Plan’s Bridging the Gap program, but is increasingly restricted on boosting environmental flows due to physical constraints in the river network and the risk of flooding riverside properties.
National Irrigators Council chief executive Zara Lowien said the panel’s findings called into question “the government focus on just (adding) water, with a $1.3bn blowout, and their own science saying priorities have shifted”.
“A review of WESA policy outcomes is needed now, to clearly link how funding and water recovery will actually deliver for the Basin’s environment and communities and inform next year’s Basin Plan Review,” she said.
“The question everyone needs to ask is, what is reasonable? If we had another $1.3bn to invest in the Murray Darling Basin what is the priority?
“Funding must be prioritised, today’s science highlights that we must better enable water delivery of water for the environment and must target today’s key degradation drivers, which means moving beyond ‘just adding water’.”
Federal Water Minister Murray Watt said while there was clearly more to do, the review signalled significant progress had been made in pursuing environmental gains for the Basin since the last review.
“It noted that delivering all of the constraints relaxation measures by the timeline we have set for them would be difficult, and that those projects would benefit from different delivery approaches and more time to realise the benefits they promise.”
The panel’s report states it was “not provided with updated costs and funding estimates for delivering the constraints measures in full” by the legislated deadline of Dec 31, 2026.
“We understand there are no updated estimates, and the Australian and Basin state governments are yet to decide if and how they will move forward with constraints relaxation after 31 December 2026.”
Mr Watt’s Department of Climate Action, Energy, Environment and Water bureaucrats told the panel the cost of removing constraints would be highly dependent on the approach to easement acquisition and compensation for landholders.
As it stands the government has allocated $200m to constraints removal, most of which appears to have been spent on funding business cases and engagement sessions with landholders, without any flood easements being acquired.
