Labor promises to find 450GL for Basin: but fails to explain how

Anthony Albanese refuses to rule out buying irrigators water – “we’re not ruling out any tools to uphold the Murray Darling Basin Plan”.

Australian Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese is trying to win South Australian votes on the back of a promise to deliver an extra 450GL of environemental water to the Murray River.

Federal Labor has failed to outline how it will recover an extra 450 gigalitres towards the Murray Darling Basin’s environmental flows in a “five-point plan” its Leader Anthony Albanese launched in Adelaide today.

“Labor will deliver on the final 450 gigalitres (GL) of water for the environment that Scott Morrison and Barnaby Joyce have failed to deliver,” Mr Albanese told the media today.

When asked how it would recover 450GL a spokeswoman said “we do not have a policy of compulsory acquisition, but we’re not ruling out any tools to uphold the Murray Darling Basin Plan”.

Irrigators fear a return to the time when the former Rudd Labor Governemnt waded into water markets during the millennium drought, stripping Basin communities of the asset on which their economies are founded.

National Irrigators Council chairman Jeremy Morton has already responded by warning draining another 450GL out of irrigation communities on top of the basin plan’s original 2750GL environmental water target, would mean “higher food prices” as the amount of water for irrigation declined driving up water prices.

Mr Morton said he feared the “hard-won agreements” Basin state ministers had brokered in 2018 – to only recovering the 450GL on the basis it had no negative socio-economic impacts – would be lost.

“Are they signalling they will throw that (agreement) out and go back to the bad old days of upstream versus downstream (communities).”

However South Australian Murray Irrigators chair Caren Martin supported the recovery of the 450GL, but said she did not support the recovery being apportioned on each state’s water usage, which would mean her state’s irrigators contributing 60GL.

“There are lots of other valleys where it could be recovered,” Ms martin said. “We’ve done our bit”.

Federal Coalition Government Water Minister Keith Pitt said Mr Albanese “needs to explain where the water is coming from in his so-called plan for the Murray-Darling.

“Mr Albanese has all but confirmed Labor will reintroduce water buybacks that have been so damaging to Murray-Darling Basin communities.

“He needs to stand up in towns like Shepparton and Deniliquin and explain how his plan will work. Mr Albanese needs to be honest with them about Labor’s plans for buybacks.

Basin communities have already suffered through a Labor-Greens-independents alliance when they decimated jobs and communities with water buybacks last time they were in government.

As it stands there is a 1500GL cap on the Federal Government buying irrigation communities’ water to boost the Basin’s environmental flows.

To date 1228GL has been purchased, leaving Labor with room to buy another 272GL before hitting the 1500GL cap.

But Victorian and NSW water ministers have repeatedly stated they would not support any Federal Government entering the water market.

Just this week Labor state MP and Victorian Water Minister Lisa Neville, wrote in The Weekly Times, “Victoria strongly opposes buy backs towards the 450 gigalitres or any other target.

“Even when buy backs are voluntary they take productive water out of the consumptive pool, drive up water prices and damage communities.

“In 2018, the Basin Ministerial Council agreed to a set of socio-economic criteria for all water recovery projects to protect against job losses, social economic harm in communities and the damaging impacts of water recovery.

“Victoria led the push for these criteria and they were agreed to and adopted by all jurisdictions including South Australia. We won’t be changing our position on that and risking further job losses, reduction in economic activity or negative social impacts for our communities.

“The Basin Plan is delivering results for the environment. We have strong evidence of the benefits to rivers, wetlands, wildlife and vegetation.

“However, further water recovery towards the 450 gigalitres could exacerbate deliverability issues, including risks for the environment and irrigators.

Labor’s five-point plan states it will:

WORK with Basin governments and stakeholders to deliver on water commitments, including the 450 GL of water for the environment.

INCREASE compliance across the Basin and, to support that compliance work, committing an additional $35 million for improved metering and monitoring.

RESTORE integrity and confidence by working with stakeholders to implement relevant ACCC recommendations, and by making the Murray Darling Basin Authority’s modelling and data publicly available where possible.

INCREASE First Nations ownership of water entitlements and participation in decision making.

FUTURE-PROOF the Basin Plan by updating the science, committing $8.5 million for the CSIRO Sustainable Yield study to inform the forthcoming review, committing $3.5 million for an independent study on climate change’s effect on Ramsar wetlands in the Basin and, if justified, considering whether to bring forward the commencement of the 2026 review.