MEMBER for Mallee Anne Webster says she remains committed to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan (MDBP) despite claims a National Party proposal to take environmental water for irrigation use during drought will undermine it.
NSW Nationals Senator Perin Davey on Thursday announced she would introduce a private senator’s Bill at the first sitting of parliament next year that proposes the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder be made release water on to the water market for consumptive use during drought.
Water experts say the move undermines the MDBP and would be ineffective because the water not necessarily go to the irrigators or farmers who needed it most.
However, Dr Webster said the proposal was “the closest we’ve come to coming up with a step forward” and was about fighting for communities who were struggling with drought.
“The point is that we should not have forests such as the Barmah Forest, such as the Hattah Lakes forest, which are flooded in times of drought,” she said.
“It makes no sense.
“In times of drought there are certain uses of the environmental water that I think need to be reviewed and we need to be more balanced in terms of our irrigators and our farmers who are doing it incredibly tough.”
Dr Webster acknowledged changes would need to be made to the Water Act in order for the bill to proceed.
“Specifically around the environmental use, so there would be a clause in there that at particular drought trigger points that the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder would release back into the consumptive pool, we would suggest at this point in time 50 per cent, of the environmental pool and that would be on a loan basis,” she said.
“And then in wet years that water would go back to the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder.”
Dr Webster said the proposal came after a lot of dialogue with farmers and communities.
“It’s just important that the voices of our farmers and irrigators are heard,” she said.
“That’s what I’m hearing.
“That’s why farmers came to Canberra this week. To have water going past their farm gates that they cannot afford, it’s really heartbreaking, or it leads to a sense of hopelessness. It’s just not fair.”
The Australia Institute senior water researcher Maryanne Slattery said the proposal would “certainly undermine the Murray-Darling Basin Plan”.
Ms Slattery said the argument that too much water was being used for the environment was invalid.
“The environment needs water when it’s in drought,” she said.
“It needs refuges and it’s not really valid to argue that the environment doesn’t need water when it’s in drought in such a highly altered system.
“You’ve taken so much away from the environment when you’re in drought.”
