Murray Darling Basin Plan: $100m water spending spree fails to deliver

Money is flowing into consultants’ pockets rather than watering wetlands and removing constraints on Murray River flows.

Regulated flooding of the Gunbower National Park is one of nine Victorian Murray Floodplain Restoration Projects that has not been delivered.

Victorian and NSW Governments have blown almost $100 million meant to boost the Murray Darling Basin’s environmental flows on bureaucrats’ wages and consultants’ fees.

The Victorian Government reached a $320 million funding agreement with the federal government in 2019, to install regulators, pumps and small levees to direct environmental flows across 14,000ha of flood plains at nine icon sites along the river, from the Gunbower National Park to lagoons and wetlands downstream of Mildura at Lindsay Island.

But as yet no physical work has occurred under the Victorian Murray Floodplain Restoration Project, with the $54.2 million contracted to date going towards design, cultural heritage surveys, public consultation programs, and the preparation of environment effects statements and two other environment reports.

Arthur Rylah fisheries researchers on the Mullaroo Ck, near Lindsay Island.

The Victorian government’s contract website states Jacobs Group Australia was awarded $19 million “to develop nominated documentation to support the delivery of two Environment Effects Statements and two Environment Reports for the VMFRP program, in accordance with the scope of services stated in the draft Study Programs.”

The R8 Joint Venture was awarded another $8.9 million to manage and complete the Cultural Heritage Management Plan requirements for just three of the sites – Wallpolla Island, Burra Creek, and Guttrum-Benwell.

Victorian Water Minister Harriet Shing said the projects were “not quick-fixes”.

“We’re making sure they get done right and follow transparent process, which will include in-depth investigations, robust environmental assessment processes and meaningful First Nations and community engagement,” she said.

North of the border the NSW Government re-signed an adjusted deal with Federal Water Minister Tanya Plibersek last October on removing constraints to Murray and Murrumbidgee River flows, which has already sucked up $43.13 million.

Under the agreement, the NSW Government must negotiate flood easements with about 3000 landholders to allow the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder to inundate parts of their properties.

To date, all the NSW Department of Planning and Environment has done is complete a landholder negotiation framework for flood easements, based on 30 submissions.

NSW Water Minister Kevin Anderson said the $43.13m was “being used to deliver improved data and modelling, technical assessments, studies, and community consultation to inform program design including inundation mapping.

“The NSW Government is working with landholders to ensure constraints projects are delivered with minimal impact on private property.”

Both the Victorian and NSW projects are crucial to the delivery of 605 gigalitres of sustainable diversion limit adjustment mechanism projects that must be completed by June 30, 2024, under the Murray Darling Basin Plan.

Federal Opposition water spokeswoman Perin Davey said “with no MINCO decisions being made since Labor came to power nine months ago it is now impossible for the projects to go through business case, environmental approval process and construction by the middle of next year”.

A Federal Government spokesman said all basin water ministers “noted significant challenges remain to implement the shared Basin Plan commitments by 30 June 2024”.