Pushback in Canberra
COMMUNITIES along the Murray River could lose half their available water, according to an advocacy group for councils along the river.
The Murray River Group of Councils, which includes Mildura and six other local governments, predicted the reduction would take place if water buybacks went ahead.
A campaign to “push back” against buybacks will be taken to Canberra after the MRGC accepted an invitation to participate in a public hearing on the proposed Water Amendment (Restoring Our Rivers) Bill 2023.
If the Bill is passed in November, it would allow reintroduction of voluntary water buybacks from farmers to meet environmental water targets as part of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
MRGC chair Rob Amos said he looked forward to presenting the group’s position and reasons behind the pushback to the committee today. “The research and our collective experience tell us that water buybacks damage local industries, economies and communities,” he said.
“The legacy water buybacks left on our region last time, includes $500 million of lost productivity across the Goulburn-Murray Irrigation District each year, massive job losses, business closure and the breakdown of the social fabric of communities. We can’t let that happen again.”
Mildura is the largest of six regions included in the MRGC. Th e group claimed buybacks would add to cost-of-living pressures in Australian households given farmers would be faced with increased input expenses. “We appreciated (independent senator) David Van visiting our region last week to hear first hand our concerns and that of local farmers and agricultural industry representatives,” Cr Amos said.
“It’s only through parliamentarians taking the time to listen to the voices and stories of real people – on farms and in communities – that the gravity of the negative impacts water buybacks cause can truly be understood.
“We encourage all Australian parliamentarians to look beyond water targets only and apply a triple-bottom-line – environmental, social and economic impacts – lens when considering how they vote on the upcoming Bill, for the benefit of all Australians.”
Water Minister Tanya Plibersek has said her government had already delivered more additional environmental water than the previous nine years. Ms Plibersek said the government was happy to consider water-saving efficiency projects instead of buybacks and that an agreement struck for the Bill, with three states and the ACT, allowed more time and funding for other projects.
