THE tendering for water buybacks aimed at recovering 70 gigalitres of water from the southern Murray-Darling Basin opened on Monday.
Voluntary water purchases, or buybacks, are part of a three-pronged approach by the Federal Government aimed at returning 450GL of water to environmental flows by December 2027.
The first tender will be open to irrigators in the southern Murray-Darling Basin only, after a non-disclosed figure was allocated in this year’s Federal Budget to purchase the water.
The second tender, which will open in the first quarter of 2025, will seek sale of large portfolios of more than 20GL each, while the third will be open to anyone, and will get underway in the second quarter of 2025.
Member for Mallee Anne Webster spoke out against the tender process and accused the Federal Government of showing “contempt” for local communities by ignoring a successful move by northern Victorian councils to reject open market buybacks.
“Farmers have been selling water for a long time, but the insidious aspect that water buybacks bring is that water leaves irrigation communities and is stockpiled by the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder, who have been regularly carrying over substantial volumes of water because they have more than they need,” she said.
“Buybacks reduce the number of irrigators in a district, culling economic activity and leaving the remaining farmers with even higher costs to maintain irrigation district infrastructure.
“Farmers in the wine industry are not the ‘willing sellers’ Labor water ministers have courted – they are desperate sellers, looking to keep financially afloat due to the oversupply of wine grapes and other market issues.”
NSW Irrigators’ Council chief executive Claire Miller said having three tenders in the southern basin in a single year was a “smash and grab raid” by the Government “designed to cause maximum market disruption and community damage.
“The minister as declared the social and economic impacts have been considered before approving these buybacks,” Ms Miller said.
“Considered maybe, but clearly ignored when ABARES says past and planned water recovery wipes $602 million to $914 million every year from what the farmgate value of irrigated agriculture would otherwise be.
“We know water buybacks hurt regional communities because it has quite literally played out before our eyes.
“Any form of water recovery must be done in a way that does not have negative social or economic impacts on regional communities.”
Federal Water Minister Tanya Plibersek said the Government is “on track” to deliver the Murray-Darling Basin Plan in full.
“We continue to prioritise non-purchase options to recover water, such as investing in water saving infrastructure, and are supporting basin communities that may feel the impacts of water recovery with a record $300 million investment,” she said.
“Not only will regional communities prosper when the Murray-Darling Basin river system is healthy, we all will.”
