Tanya Plibersek: ‘We will deliver the $40m of Indigenous water’

Water Minister Tanya Plibersek has committed to deliver on the former Coalition’s promise to fund the purchase of water for Indigenous Australians in the Murray Darling Basin.

Greater access to water in the Murray Darling Basin is back on the table for Indigenous Australians.

Environment and Water Minister Tanya Plibersek promised to deliver on a four-year-old commitment made by the former Coalition government to provide $40 million to help Indigenous communities in the Murray-Darling Basin participate in the water market.

Former Agriculture and Water Minister David Littleproud promised the funds to ensure Indigenous communities could invest in water for cultural and economic development, with funding for the program tied to the $13 billion Murray-Darling Basin Plan and committed in thr 2018 Federal Budget.

The money was to be split between Indigenous groups in the north and south of the basin.

But so far none of the money has been allocated.

Environment and Water Minister Tanya Plibersek at the National Press Club of Australia, for her State of Environment address. Picture: Gary Ramage

Ms Plibersek said last week: “We will deliver the $40 million of Indigenous water promised by the Morrison government in 2018, but never produced”.

Mr Littleproud defended his government’s progress on the rollout of the program, which he said required agreement from Indigenous groups in the north and south of the basin and took some time. There was also the possibility of the funding pool being increased with philanthropic money, which stalled its delivery.

He also criticised Ms Plibersek’s framing of the program, which she said would allow Indigenous Australians to protect their cultural heritage.

“There was a little bit more complexity than what Tanya articulated yesterday. There had to be an economic advantage, whether that be to purchase water, produce something, or (to use as) a passive stream of income, or for Indigenous communities to start businesses in the basin. There was flexibility in it,” he said.

Details such as what criteria has to be met to qualify for funding and how it can be used have not been finalised.

The program was transferred from the Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment to the National Indigenous Australians Agency in October last year.

The Murray-Darling Basin plan was legislated in 2012.

STATE OF THE ENVIRONMENT 2021 REPORT

In an address to the National Press Club last week, Ms Plibesek said she was shocked to learn how much water was needed to be recovered under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan for the environment before 2024.

“The previous government had a decade to fulfil the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. It’s a good plan. Labor made it. Labor delivered it. And it saved the river system from dying in 2019. But it’s yet to be fully implemented,” she said.

The Minister on Tuesday released the State of the Environment report, which painted a bleak picture of the health of the nation’s natural assets.

Report author Ian Creswell said many of the pressures facing Australia’s environment and heritage today were the same pressures described in previous reports such as climate change, land‑use change, habitat degradation and invasive species.

“However, the impacts of these are becoming more intense, and we find stronger evidence that the interactions between pressures are resulting in cumulative impacts, amplifying the threats faced by the Australian environment,” Dr Creswell said.

The report said some areas of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan remained outstanding or “poorly done, including to having regard to Indigenous people’s values and uses in the management of water resources”.

VICTORIA LEADS THE WAY

The Victorian government granted Gippsland’s Gunaikurnai Land and Water Aboriginal Corporation 2000 megalitres of unallocated winter-fill entitlement on the Mitchell River in November 2020.

The state government has invested $5 million to develop a road map to support Aboriginal use and access to water, as well as helping them establish and develop water-related businesses.