Murray River

The Australian Government has released figures pertaining to more than $89 million water purchasing contracts for the period March 1 to April 14. Total purchases over the past six weeks total $210 million. The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) Austender website lists only contract values awarded.

Nicola Centofanti. While many irrigators have been removing patches of wine grapes and converting to other crops, there are still many grape growers feeling the impact of ongoing low prices. With consumption of commercial wine falling globally and the large volume of wine retained in storage, there is little cause for optimism in the immediate future.

As communicated with shareholders in June 2024, Murray Irrigation (MIL) and our fellow southern irrigation infrastructure operators (IIOs), Coleambally Irrigation Cooperative Limited (CICL) and Murrumbidgee Irrigation Limited (MI), applied for funding under the Australian Government’s Resilient Rivers Water Infrastructure Program for a feasibility study to explore what is required to bolster the efficiency and resilience of our irrigation networks in an era of water recovery.

Government changes have reallocated 3,200 gigalitres of irrigation water to environmental flows, much of it unmetered and flowing out to sea, creating dire consequences for regional food production. The Gannawarra Region alone is losing $1.3 billion annually – and these impacts are expected to worsen.

Australia’s largest water reform project, the Murray Darling Basin Plan, appears to be joining a growing list of abject failures driven by politicians and bureaucrats who have little to no wisdom, ethics or skin in the game. Unless of course, that skin is water trading ... Despite constitutional protections, the Australian Federal Government's $13b has fuelled a 50 per cent reduction in NSW and Victorian irrigation water use since 1997-98. SA saw a 22 per cent reduction, while Qld bucked the trend increasing extraction by roughly 58 per cent.

In a clearly political move to win city votes at the expense of regional Australia, the Commonwealth yesterday kicked off a second buyback tender in the southern Murray-Darling Basin in 2024-25. NSW Irrigators’ Council CEO Claire Miller said with an impending election, "this announcement is clearly intended to try to win city votes while throwing regional communities, farmers and even the environment under the bus.

Community and farming groups have expressed "total disbelief" at the latest attempt by the Albanese Government to destroy regional communities. Leading the charge is Murray Regional Strategy Group, with Chair Geoff Moar saying the latest announcement of more water buybacks on the eve of a Federal election was "beyond comprehension".