Plibersek breaks promise: water buyback strategy not delivered by 2022 deadline

A promise to consult Murray Darling Basin communities by the end of 2022 on buying more irrigators’ water has been broken.

Irrigation communities, such as Deniliquin (pictured), have not been consulted on the federal government’s plans to buyout more of the water that underpins their town.

Federal Water Minister Tanya Plibersek has failed to deliver on her first major promise to voters on rolling out a strategy to buy more irrigators’ entitlements under the Murray Darling Basin Plan.

Ms Plibersek and Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water bureaucrats promised basin state ministers in October a water recovery strategy would be out for public consultation by the end of 2022.

As of early this week the DCCEEW website stated: “Development of a strategy, focusing on a first step of bridging the gap is under development and will be released for public consultation by the end of 2022 as agreed at the Murray Darling Basin Ministerial Council meeting held in October 2022”.

Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek speaks at a press conference at QUT in Brisbane. Picture: Dan Peled

The ministerial council is due to meet again on February 24 to discuss the strategy, but irrigators questioned how any decision could be made without adequate public consultation.

National Irrigators Council chairman Jeremy Morton said it was “extremely disappointing” that the strategy had not been released as promised.

He said it was only fair and reasonable that communities were consulted on bridging the gap strategy, “rather than waking up one morning to see a call for tenders in the paper”.

When quizzed on the issue, a DCCEEW spokesman said “flooding across the Basin in late 2022, combined with crop harvesting and holiday periods, meant it was not an appropriate time to hold consultations with local communities”.

But Mr Morton said farmers were always busy and there was no reason, even with the floods, that the department could not have put up the strategy on their website for feedback.

Failure to release the strategy means it is unlikely MINCO will be able to reach a decision on irrigator water buyouts, pushing any decision out until after the NSW election on March 25.

While the NSW Coalition Government has been vehemently opposed to federal buyouts, the Opposition’s water spokeswoman Rose Jackson has left the door open on buyouts if Labor is elected next month.

The DCCEEW spokesman said a strategic water purchasing framework was under development and would be released soon.

“As committed to at the Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council of October 2022, the Australian Government has discussed options to bridge the remaining gap with relevant basin states and communities,” the spokesman said. “This includes through strategic water purchasing.”

Mr Morton said no strategy, draft or otherwise, had been presented to irrigators.