Communities who carried the burden of a Basin Plan corrupted by politics are once again looking down the barrel of mass buybacks.
The impacts of water buybacks cannot be understated as communities were ripped apart, football clubs closed, huge areas of food production and habitat provision were dried out, industries retracted, driving increased costs and undermining sustainability, and the price of water was sent out of reach of many young farmers.
Following the passing of the Restoring our Rivers Bill through the Senate this week, Robbie Sefton, Basin farmer and managing director of national communications consultancy Sefton’s, has spoken out again on the legislation.
Robbie says she has been disappointed by the lack of understanding from policy-makers around Basin management, the agriculture industry, and the importance of this vast area to the nation’s economy. She also believes the current debate has exposed a leadership void.
“The impact on Basin communities – and the flow-on effect to the nation’s food and fibre needs, and the economy as a whole – has been absent from the rhetoric. The many nuances and complexities around Basin management reduced to convenient sound bites that gloss over future ramifications. Like so many important debates in our country today, it’s degenerated into a political blame game that fails to deliver effective solutions to the issues at hand, and emphasises the absence of considered, well-informed and courageous leadership Australia needs to kick long-term social and economic goals,” Robbie says.
The Victorian Nationals leader and Member for Murray Plains, Peter Walsh, says the Greens haven’t just gutted the Murray-Darling Basin by backing Canberra’s plan to loot the system of another 450GL of environmental water, they are setting up the devastation of communities across his electorate.
And Mr Walsh says the crisis is bigger than just Murray Plains, the collateral damage of this “incredibly naïve and shortsighted decision” will be felt the length and breadth of the Murray.
He says the many irrigation-dependent communities have been abandoned by the city-centric Greens, “who think an electric car and a few solar panels give them the moral high ground.”
“Even Greens in the Victorian Parliament were this week calling on the Premier to get behind the Albanese government wrecking machine,” Mr Walsh says.
“The Greens need reminding those in the inner city would be hungry, naked and sober without hardworking communities such as those in the Goulburn Murray region,” he says.
The Victorian Water Minister, Harriet Shing, has been the only State Water Minister to show any sort of intestinal fortitude keeping Victoria opposed to water buybacks. Minister Shing has repeatedly stated that she is still at the table for the plan Victoria signed up for, but the federal government is the one shifting the goal posts. Punitive measures undertaken by Federal Water Minister Tanya Plibersek against Victoria demonstrate the purely political nature of Australia’s largest water reform.
To force Victoria to support buybacks, the Albanese Government is withholding funding for the Victorian Murray Floodplain Restoration Projects. The works would see environmental water delivered more efficiently and return 70 gigalitres in water savings to the feds. Environmental outcomes appear to play second fiddle to compliance in selling out rural communities.
To date, NSW has shown far less resistance to the federal government’s push.
In a statement to The Bridge, Rose Jackson, Minister for Water (also Minister for Housing, Minister for Homelessness, Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Youth, and Minister for the North Coast), said, “The passing of the Australian Government’s Restoring Our Rivers Bill gives us access to more time, more options and more funding to deliver the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
“To be clear, the NSW Government does not support water buybacks. We are actively investigating alternative water recovery options and will soon put forward a number of projects which we believe can help reduce the risks of buybacks by the Australian Government.
“It is important to note that no Basin state is exempt from buybacks, this is a decision which sits with the Australian Government.
“If the Australian Government chooses to pursue buybacks, we believe they have a responsibility to address any negative social and economic impacts on affected communities.
“We have communicated this clearly with the Australian Government and advised that they must incorporate safeguards in any future strategic water recovery program to protect our communities and address adverse impacts to water markets.”
In parliament last week, Member for Farrer and Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said, “The Basin Plan is no longer a plan; it’s a death sentence. It’s a death sentence that has been delivered by this government.
“The Basin’s heart has been broken by a government that has ignored communities. They haven’t even bothered to visit them.
“We know the politics that goes on in this place. We know the glee with which the environment minister looks at all of us and laughs at us. We see it every day in question time.
“We know that she hasn’t set one foot in the Basin and hasn’t demonstrated one shred of care for the communities that she’s tearing apart.”
The Plan rolls on.
This article appeared in The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper, 7 December 2023.
