Why irrigators could lose more water to government buyouts

Irrigation communities face losing another 327 gigalitres of water over the next decade, under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap aimed at lifting First Nations’ water ownership to 3 per cent.

Federal Water Minister Tanya Plibersek has repeatedly refused to specify how much First Nations’ water will be recovered in the Murray Darling Basin.

Murray Darling Basin irrigation communities face losing another 327 gigalitres of water over the next decade, under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap aimed at lifting First Nations’ water ownership to 3 per cent of Australia’s water entitlements.

Federal and basin state governments have already declared their in-principle support to delivering the First Nations’ inland waters target over the next decade – on top of the 2107GL already drained out of Murray Darling Basin communities to boost environmental flows, plus 605GL that is yet to be recovered from efficiency and savings measures and another 450GL in upwater recovery over the next four years.

National Irrigators Council chair Jeremy Morton said it was a case of “little by little adds up to a lot” when it came to yet more government water buyouts.

The impacts of reaching the target extend across the nation, with federal government commissioned PwC analysis showing First Nations’ people currently own just 0.19 per cent of Australia’s 29,532GL of water entitlements held by irrigators, urban water users and industry.

To reach the 3 per cent target, PwC calculated federal, state and territory governments would need to recover another 886GL from current users, with 364GL coming from NSW inland and coastal valleys, 111GL from Victoria, including northern and southern irrigation districts, plus almost 85GL from South Australian water users.

The volumes of water entitlement that has to be recovered to meet the 3 per cent first nations’ targets are huge.

Victorian Water Minister Harriett Shing confirmed last year that “all jurisdictions, including Victoria, endorsed a national 3 per cent Inland Waters Target” at the Joint Council on Closing the Gap meeting in 2022.

Federal Water Minister Tanya Plibersek has repeatedly refused to specify how much First Nations’ water will be recovered in the Murray Darling Basin, despite the government having already signed off on the target.

But Ms Plibersek’s bureaucrats have taken the first small steps towards meeting the target, issuing a tender last month calling on water brokers to lodge bids to act on the government’s behalf in buying the first $10m of Aboriginal water.

Applying the 3 per cent rule to the Murray Darling Basin means recovering 327GL of the 10,890GL irrigators, towns and industry divert an average.

As for the impact of recovering more water for traditional owners Mr Morton said it depended on how it was used, with some groups wanting to sell annual allocations, while others focused on cultural use.

Dja Dja Wurrung traditional owner chief executive Rodney Carter said unless they had a fairly sophisticated understanding of water, most groups would defer to cultural use in a bid to improve catchment vegetation and fish breeding.