Water: NFF and Greens reject Labor’s Murray Darling Basin Bill
Farm leaders believe Labor’s new Murray Darling Basin Plan will hand the government “unchecked power” to shut down farms, as the Greens threaten to block the Bill.
Farm leaders have slammed a federal government bill to amend the management plan for the Murray-Darling Basin, claiming it “removes every last limit on the Government’s power to shut down farms”.
Meanwhile, the Greens have also refused to support Labor’s revision of the $13 billion plan and will refer it to a Senate inquiry.
The Bill, introduced into parliament last week, seeks to extend the current June 2024 deadline on delivery of 450 gigalitres of water back to the environment out to December 31, 2027.
National Farmers’ Federation chief executive Tony Mahar said it would hand government “unchecked power” to shut down irrigation farms.
“Successive governments have managed to maintain a fragile consensus on the Basin Plan across party lines and between the states and territories. This Bill will blow up that consensus for a cheap political win,” he said.
The NFF has previously called on the government to work with the agriculture industry on alternative water-saving proposals, “rather than thumping communities with more buybacks.”
The Bill was tabled after Water Minister Tanya Plibersek brokered a deal with the Queensland, NSW, South Australia and ACT governments to allow Commonwealth buybacks of irrigation licenses to boost environment flows and extend infrastructure project deadlines.
The deal effectively steamrolled the Victorian government after it refused to support buybacks.
Meanwhile, Greens Environment spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young said she was concerned the legislation did not guarantee that water levels “previously promised to SA” would be delivered.
The Greens are also opposed to the three-year extension.
Ms Plibersek said the revised plan was “the only way” to meet water-saving targets.
Meanwhile independent senator David Pocock recently met with rice, cotton and potato farmers to discuss the buybacks.
“It’s impacting on them in different ways and … it is going to be an interesting few months to see how the government tries to deal with that,” he said.
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