Water Act inquiry: Buyout impacts “over-inflated”, say Senators

The impact of water buyouts on communities is “over-inflated” and not supported by “high-quality evidence”, a Senate committee has said. See the details.

South Australian Senator Karen Grogan chaired the committee that argued the impact on irrigation communities of water buyouts were “over-inflated”.

The Senate committee reviewing the Albanese government’s Water Amendment (Restoring Our Rivers) Bill have backed buying more water out of irrigation communities, saying concerns over the socio-economic impacts are “over-inflated and not supported by the high-quality evidence base”.

The 10-member committee, which is dominated by Labor, Greens and independent senators, also called for amendments to split water recovery from constraints on delivering environmental flows to South Australia under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

In its final report released today, the committee stated it “acknowledges that some Basin Plan outcomes are dependent on successfully removing constraints and notes commentary on the potential need for compulsory acquisition”.

The committee, chaired by Labor SA Senator Karen Grogan, failed to clearly state whether it backed compulsory acquisition of flood easements over at least 3000 riverside properties, whose land have to be inundated to meet the MDB Plan’s environmental flow targets.

However the South Australian government’s submission argued forcing the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder to gain landholder permission to flood their land was “nonsensical in many ways, not least of all because rivers are natural features that cannot be entirely controlled”.

As a result, the SA government argued for amendments to the federal Water Act to introduce a compulsory scheme to grant water access without third party liability.

The committee also called for unviable Sustainable Diversion Limit Adjustment Mechanism projects, such as the NSW Menindee Lakes reconfiguration to save about 100 gigalitres, to be dumped, plus real-time tracking of water recovery.

The senators also argued any assistance to offset the impacts of water buyouts should be subject to “appropriate eligibility parameters” that required “communities to demonstrate how they were impacted by water acquisition, be proximate to the purchase area, and for the assistance to be directed into projects that produce and maintain jobs for the long-term”.

Nationals Senator Perin Davey, who sat on the committee and published a dissenting report, said “we will not support a bill that allows for open tender buybacks, particularly in the absence of an adequate social and economic impact assessment”.

“The focus of the Basin Plan must be on delivering against the environmental outcomes, not merely volumes and for that reason, we are opposed to recovering the 450GL from the productive pool of water.”

RECOMMENDATIONS

As soon as practicable, the Australian government, in consultation with relevant state governments, release a detailed public implementation schedule that outlines how supply and constraints projects will be operable by 31 December 2026.

THAT unfeasible SDLAM projects should be either re-scoped to meet the proposed new deadline or discontinued immediately and that the Australian government be made responsible for withdrawing these projects where the relevant basin state fails to do so within a reasonable time frame.

THE Australian government, in consultation with relevant state governments, consider and implement an appropriate mechanism before the proposed 31 December 2026 deadline to prevent future delays or other noncompliance.

CONSTRAINTS removal projects be separated from supply projects and pursued under a different program.

THE Australian government provide public information on how lessons from previous community assistance programs will inform the current package, as well as information on what will trigger a community assistance package and how these will be implemented.

THE Australian government implement appropriate eligibility parameters for community assistance packages by requiring communities to demonstrate how they were impacted by water acquisition, be proximate to the purchase area, and for the assistance to be directed into projects that produce and maintain jobs for the long-term.

INCREASE accountability and transparency for all water recovery through a public, real-time tracking mechanism.

THE Basin Plan be amended to require effective SDL compliance from 1 July 2019, including allowing for the Register of Take to commence at that date for all areas, to hold all jurisdictions to account for overuse in the absence of accredited Water Resource Plans.

THE Australian government consider amending the Water Act 2007 and the Basin Plan 2012 to expressly provide for First Nations’ values and interests in the basin, having regard to the proposals received in this inquiry and the principles of UNDRIP.

THE Minister for the Environment and Water consider additional funding for the Aboriginal Water Entitlements Program to improve First Nations’ investment in cultural and economic water entitlements.

THE Water Act 2007 be amended to require the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, in its review of the Basin Plan, to ensure that the management of basin water resources takes into account spiritual, environmental, social, cultural and economic matters relevant to Indigenous people.

THE Australian government consider, as a matter of priority, measures to hardwire First Nations representation in Basin Plan management and decision-making.

THE Water Act 2007 be amended to strengthen the language regarding the role of First Nations spiritual, cultural and economic perspectives in the management of the basin water resources. FOLLOWING the MDBA’s 2026 review, the Australian government embed the impacts of climate change in the Water Act 2007 and Basin Plan.

THAT the Senate pass the bill with amendments.