Water Minister Keith Pitt: Basin irrigation buyouts to end

New Water Minister Keith Pitt insists an extra 450 gigalitres of water to boost Murray Darling Basin environmental flows will still be recovered. But just how he intends to end irrigation water buyouts is where it gets more interesting.

Diluted: Federal Water Minister Keith Pitt is trying to navigate the conflicting demands of irrigators, state governments and environmentalists.

THE Federal Government’s new Water Minister Keith Pitt has created more of a ripple than a wave, in announcing he will carve off some Murray Darling Basin Authority staff to create a new compliance unit.

But he has failed to provide any detail in announcing he would “end” future irrigation water buyouts.

In his first key speech on the MDB Plan, Mr Pitt said the Federal Government would still recover an extra 450 gigalitres to boost environmental flows, but “I will not put further pressure on irrigators to recover this through buybacks — my focus will be on off-farm efficiencies”.

But Mr Pitt’s statements do little more than reinforce what Victorian Water Minister Lisa Neville and her NSW counterpart Melinda Pavey have previously stated, in declaring they would fight any bids to buyout more irrigators’ water.

As it stands the states are struggling to deliver 605GL of sustainable diversion adjustment measures projects by 2024, which means any future Federal Government can wade into irrigation water markets to make up any shortfall.

In addition Mr Pitt failed to address the Victorian and NSW Governments repeated warnings that the bid to find another 450GL was pointless, given it could not be managed to create the basin plan’s target peak flows at the South Australian border due to river constraints and the risk of flooding thousands of farms.

It appears Mr Pitt, like his predecessors, has been caught struggling to satisfying South Australian Senators demanding more water and irrigation communities in NSW and Victorian coalition electorates demanding a halt to the plan.

Mr Pitt did announce 11 new initiatives, worth $234 million to get on with what he called “delivering the plan”, but again provided no detail on how his government would recover 450GL with just $1.5 billion — about $3333 a megalitre, when most off-farm irrigation investments being put forward by the states cost more than $10,000/ML.

Mr Pitt did however finally deliver on the 2018 Productivity Commission recommendation to carve up the MDBA, leaving it to implement the basin plan, while its compliance staff are carved of to join the Inspector-General of the Murray-Darling’s staff in a new compliance unit.

He also announced the Commonwealth would build a new web-based, real-time water information platform to be the single point of truth for communities on water storages, flows and trade information.