Plibersek spends $21,357 a megalitre on Adelaide water savings

Federal Water Minister Tanya Plibersek is encountering significant bumps on her path to deliver the Murray Darling Basin Plan.

The Albanese Government is yet to deliver one drop towards the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, with the 2000 gigalitres recovered to date the work of previous governments.

ANALYSIS
After almost a year in power, federal Water Minister Tanya Plibersek’s contribution to the Murray Darling Basin’s water recovery has been the launch of a tender to buy 44,300 megalitres of irrigators’ water and a stormwater recovery project in Adelaide to recover another 125 megalitres.

Earlier this month Ms Plibersek announced a $2.7 million federal investment in a 14km stormwater pipeline extension to sports fields and reserves in South Australia’s most marginal Labor-held electorate – Boothby.

The project was funded under the federal government’s $1.54 billion Off-farm Efficiency Program, which the government’s own website states “will provide long-term benefits to irrigators by improving infrastructure efficiency and benefit communities by increasing water security and creating jobs”.

Just what benefits irrigators will gain or jobs will be created from replacing 125 megalitres of SA Water’s Murray River diversions with stormwater remains unclear.

But at the launch of the project Ms Plibersek said the project would “count towards the Murray-Darling Basin Plan target of an additional 450,000 megalitres of environmental water” and “was a crucial part of South Australia originally signing up to the Plan”.

The $2.703 million federal contribution of taxpayers’ funds to the project for such a small volume of water, equates to $21,357 for each megalitre recovered.

National Irrigators’ Council chairman Jeremy Morton said Ms Plibersek “came into power and said the other (Coalition) mob had done bugger all”.

“Twelve months on and she’s found it just as difficult. All the low hanging fruit is gone, with no spare capacity in agriculture,” he said.

But Ms Plibersek’s office said “already, the minister has delivered more additional environmental water than the federal Liberals and Nationals delivered in nine years”.

“She has funded infrastructure projects, opened tender for voluntary water purchasing, accredited state water resource plans so they can be properly policed, cracked down on cowboys in the water market, and is working with First Nations across the basin.”

Federal Opposition water spokeswoman Perin Davey said Minister Plibersek was taking credit for work that was developed by the Liberal-Nationals in government, from the water trading inquiry to infrastructure projects and water sharing plans”.

Federal Opposition water spokeswoman Senator Perin Davey has accused Minister Plibersek of claiming credit for the Coalition’s work on the Basin Plan.

Meanwhile irrigators are starting to wonder if they should be setting prices close to $21,357 a megalitre for water they offer under the federal government tender.

Victorian Farmers Federation water council chair Andrew Leahy asked: “Is that where the market is heading?

“Philosophically you have to ask is the Basin Plan about money or about the environment and savings?”