How NSW’s Alternatives to Buybacks Plan could affect Victoria

A new NSW Government plan wants to “shepherd” environmental water through the Menindee Lakes. Here’s what it means for Victorian irrigators.

A NSW Government proposal to “shepherd” environmental water through the Menindee Lakes threatens to undermine the reliability of Murray River irrigators’ water entitlements.

NSW Water Minister Rose Jackson has released an Alternatives to Buybacks Plan, which proposes “recognition of environmental flows” from the northern Basin through the Menindee Lakes system.

The Victorian Government is keeping a close eye on the proposal, given all Menindee inflows are shared 50:50 with NSW, underpinning the Murray River entitlements.

Victorian Water Minister Harriet Shing’s office said: “We support the long-term aim of shepherding environmental water from the northern basin through the Menindee Lakes – provided transparent accounting is in place to ensure additional water is for the environment and does not compromise Victoria’s (water)”.

Victoria’s expectation is that transparency is needed in metering, monitoring and compliance of flows throughout the Darling River, to provide assurance that any environmental water accounting arrangements do not undermine Victoria’s share of water in the Menindee Lakes.

The NSW government will need to prove it has the monitoring and modelling in place to ensure all environmental flows bear their own losses, as they travel up to 1472km from the Darling River’s upper tributaries and through the Menindee Lakes to the Murray.

Murray Darling Basin Authority river management director Joseph Davis recently told a Senate Estimates Committee that he was engaged in conducting a trial with the NSW Government on shepherding water through the lakes.

“They’ve got a method to calculate environmental water coming towards Menindee at the top,” Dr Davis said.

“Obviously, Victoria is very focused on what that calculation is and what it looks like, and they are also looking at the accuracy of that from their point of view, because inflows from the Menindee Lakes are shared 50:50.”

Minister Shing’s office said Victoria would “continue to advocate for projects that return water to the environment without causing socio-economic harm.

“And with families facing unprecedented cost of living pressures, it’s our priority to support local communities, food producers, and workers, while also ensuring Victoria’s precious environments are not disadvantaged in comparison to other Basin states.”

The Menindee Lakes water sharing arrangements are enshrined in the Murray Darling Basin Agreement – a schedule to the federal Water Act, which can only be amended by unanimous agreement between all basin states and the federal government.

It is not yet clear whether a change to the Murray-Darling Basin Agreement will be required once accounting arrangements are resolved, or whether there is a way to simply manage this by agreement between Victoria and NSW.