The invitation has been extended to Minister Julie Collins by the Murray Regional Strategy Group (MRSG), a coalition of industry, community and irrigation groups across the NSW Murray Valley.
Ms Collins was recently appointed to the position as part of an Albanese Government cabinet reshuffle.
MRSG chair Geoff Moar said it was important for Ms Collins to be fully aware of current issues around water management and government water policy, in particular relating to water buybacks.
“Recently, the government’s own Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) has stated the cost of water recovery to our nation is a massive $600 million to $900 million in lost production every single year,” Mr Moar said.
“That is a massive amount of lost food production that will impact rural communities and further exacerbate cost of living pressures across the nation.
“As a result, we have provided information to the Minister to help ensure she is fully aware of the impacts of water recovery under buybacks to broader regional communities.”
In a letter to Minister Collins, MRSG has explained that:
• While individual farmers might benefit in the short term from buybacks, this does not flow on to manufacturing and food processing industries.
• Reduced agricultural production results in fewer jobs in the service industries, like agronomists, truck drivers, weighbridge operators, dairy hands, crop dusters, header drivers and the list goes on.
• This significantly impacts the population of regional towns, with fewer children attending schools, fewer teachers, fewer health care workers, fewer hairdressers and fewer retail outlets, resulting in fewer sporting teams and other social clubs.
• The flow-on impacts to regional communities are rarely taken into account in impact studies and reports.
• The Murray-Darling Basin Plan’s own community profiles study highlighted the impacts on regional communities, which was well above the predicted job losses made in the Guide to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
• Economic and social impacts due to removing water from communities will not be seen until five to eight years after the water is removed.
Mr Moar said agriculture continues to be a major contributor to the national economy, but this is significantly impacted if water is not available at an affordable price to grow our food and fibre.
Less water also reduces the amount of food Australia can export to developing countries, helping to ease starvation in some of these communities.
“We cannot emphasise enough the importance of sound, well-researched water policy,” Mr Moar said.
“While the Albanese Government seems intent on water buybacks, this is the worst form of recovery because of its impact on farmers and communities.
“MRSG has developed a road map which provides alternatives to buybacks, and it is disappointing that to this point there appears a focus on the easiest way to achieve recovery, instead of the best way.
“We would welcome the opportunity to show Ms Collins how environmental targets can be achieved, while protecting the agriculture industries which she now oversees.”
MRSG has advised Ms Collins that recovering additional water is not going to address the following environmental issues:
• The Barmah Choke already collapsing from high water flows
• River bank erosion
• European Carp proliferation
• Invasive weed spread from overbank flows
• Private and public infrastructure damage caused by overbank flows.
“We have urged the minister to protect one of the most valuable and sustainable economic drivers for our nation, that being irrigated agriculture in the Murray-Darling Basin, and enter into meaningful and constructive negotiations with the Water Minister (Tanya Plibersek) to ensure taxpayer money is used to achieve long-term environmental outcomes that don’t come at the expense of people and the economy.
“This is achievable.
“There are many genuine, achievable alternatives to water buybacks that can provide the environmental benefits we all want to see across the Murray-Darling Basin, while also protecting communities and the jobs of hard-working Australians.
“All it needs is the willpower to adopt and implement these solutions.”
5°C