The Hon. Nicola Centofanti, Shadow Minister for Water Resources and the River Murray (SA), Media Release, 18 July 2024

Struggling South Australian growers could be forced to wait almost a year for compensation after selling water to the Albanese Labor Government to meet its target of 450GL for the Murray-Darling Basin.

Labor has released its Restoring Our Rivers – Trading Strategy which outlines its approach to the destructive water buybacks model over the next year, claiming:

“The intent of these rules is to ensure that persons or organisations with prior knowledge of market sensitive information that will be publicly announced, do not have an unfair market advantage over other water market participants”.

South Australia already faces significant risk through Labor’s buybacks strategy because there is no fixed volume to be recovered from each state, or each catchment or each water right type, which puts local growers in the firing line.

Shadow Minister for Water Resources and the River Murray, Dr Nicola Centofanti, said the rules are unfair and confusing.

“It’s crucial that growers facing the current challenges get accurate information to make well-informed decisions in managing their businesses,” Dr Centofanti said.

“The process must be efficient and transparent otherwise livelihoods could be put at risk.

“I was shocked to see the details for payments buried deep in Labor’s Approach to Market document and the suggested time frames are alarming. It appears offers to purchase will not be made until December 2024 to February 2025.

“We know when indicative dates are supplied, the tail end of the time frame is generally more accurate and that means growers are likely to only receive payment in March next year – more than eight months from now.

“It’s my understanding that growers are being told they cannot have their water leased at the time of tender despite the significant period for purchase.

“It appears Labor is potentially pulling up to 70gL out of the consumptive pool over the next eight months and precluding growers from being able to earn an income in the short term.

“This is akin to Labor buying houses with an eight-month long settlement but blocking the current owners from renting the home out in the meantime – it’s ludicrous.

“We must remember many growers who intend to take part in the program are not ‘willing sellers’ of water – they feel compelled to sell just to pay down debt.

“The Albanese Labor Government has a duty to ensure growers enter the program with their eyes wide open and with most accurate information to hand.”