Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF), Media Release, 25 July 2025
The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) says the recently released 2025 Basin Plan Evaluation portrays a deliberately deceiving snapshot of the Murray-Darling Basin and ignores the real-world reality facing farmers and communities in the region.
VFF Water Council Chair and Murrabit dairy farmer Andrew Leahy said the Murray–Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) appears more focused on defending its own Plan than objectively evaluating the impacts.
“It’s incredibly disappointing that the MDBA seems to have written this report to justify the Plan, rather than assess whether it’s actually working for regional communities.”
“While the report declares, ‘we are better off with the Basin Plan’ and claims the Basin’s environment ‘is better now than it would have been without the Basin Plan’, it does so by measuring ‘economic growth’ against a baseline year of 2007, in the middle of the devastating Millennium Drought.”
“2007 was one of the worst years in living memory for agriculture. Farmers were forced to sell water under financial pressure from banks and rising input costs. Using this year as a reference point for ‘economic improvement’ is misleading.”
“Of course there has been some rebound since then. The real question the report refuses to ask is what economic growth could we have achieved if the Basin Plan hadn’t stripped productive water from regional economies?”
“I live in northern Victoria, and the impacts are real. Fewer farms, means fewer jobs, fewer people in our schools, and fewer kids on the footy and netball teams.”
“We’ve asked the Minister for the Environment and Water, Murray Watt, a number of times to come and see what it’s like on the ground. It’s time for him to take us up on that offer and see what it’s really like out here,” Mr Leahy said.
The VFF also highlighted well-documented evidence that reducing the pool of available irrigation water drives up water prices, hurting both Victorian producers and other states.
“We’re already seeing the devasting impacts of reducing available water to irrigation communities. South Australian wine growers this week are talking about ripping out vines because they can’t afford water.”
“What’s missing in this report is any real discussion about how agriculture is expected to survive the next drought with even less water and that needs to change.”
“Water is the critical ingredient for growing food. It’s time the MDBA and Commonwealth Government stopped treating agriculture as an afterthought and recognised that without secure, affordable water, Australia’s ability to feed itself and the world is at serious risk,” Mr Leahy concluded.
Related stories: MDBA declares ‘game changing’ positive results for the Basin but sends the clear message it’s time to shift from just adding water: NIC, Basin Plan Evaluation strong evidence the Plan is working: MDBA
