A new report has vindicated Murray-Darling Basin water users accused of overuse in a bid to ‘sell’ the Federal Government’s plans to take more productive water for the environment.
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Released quietly this month was the Murray-Darling Basin Authority’s 2022–23 Sustainable Diversion Limit Accounts Registers of take and interim registers of take, March 2024 report.
It shows that competitive water use across the basin is well below allowed levels.
This is in stark contrast to a $14 million advertising campaign led by the Federal Government, which stated water was being overused in the basin.
The ads were running at the same time the government was attempting to pass the Restoring Our Rivers Bill, which would trigger its desire for more water buybacks.
The bill was passed through Parliament, and tenders to purchase water entitlements opened in July.
Deniliquin-based Senator and Federal Shadow Minister for Water Perin Davey said the new report from the MDBA proves the campaign was a “lie”.
She also suggested the report was quietly released “in an effort not to embarrass the Albanese Government”.
“The government’s claim water is being overused and the Murray-Darling Basin is at risk is fundamentally wrong,” Senator Davey said.
“It is disingenuous of the government to waste taxpayers’ money on advertising campaigns using fake CGI imagery and stock photos from Turkey and Sydney to convey false information, when in fact the reverse is true.”
Senator Davey pointed to the report findings that every valley in the basin used less water than was permitted in 2022-23, continuing a trend across multiple valleys ever since accounting commenced in 2019.
“The key role of the Basin Plan is to set a volume that can be sustainably taken from the river systems, known as the sustainable diversion limit,” she said.
“What this report shows is that across the basin we are operating well under that level – leaving more water in the rivers for the environment.
“All we hear from this government is a call to take more and more water away from production.
“Why do we need to keep recovering water if the levels currently being diverted are well below what has been deemed to be a sustainable level?” Senator Davey said.
The Murray Regional Strategy Group - a coalition of industry, community and irrigation groups across the NSW Murray Valley - says it is time to address environmental misconceptions and false narratives from those who are prioritising ideology, at the expense of our nation.
MRSG deputy chair Alan Mathers, like Senator Davey, says the latest report on water volumes highlights that “the facts don’t back up the claims”.
He said instead of being praised for keeping within the take limits, productive water users are being punished by having more water - and the economic wealth it generates - removed from their irrigation regions.
“This latest data proves we are achieving the ultimate goal of ensuring we have a sustainable Murray-Darling Basin, and this should be celebrated and applauded,” Mr Mathers said.
“With all the evidence being compiled, telling us we are not taking too much water out of the system, it is hard to understand why the Albanese Government would even contemplate recovering more water through buybacks when we know the damage they cause to our communities.
“Despite strong objection from those who live in the basin, the government is currently buying more water from farmers, which it says is to protect the environment. This doesn’t make sense, as we now know it is not needed.
“The buybacks mean there is less water for our farmers to grow food. So they reduce food production, hurt rural communities and push up food prices.”
Mr Mathers pointed out that in the NSW Murray, for example, stakeholders are consistently using 25 per cent less than the recommended sustainable limit.
“We have already recovered massive volumes, we have improved scientific knowledge of the basin and its rivers, and we have learned from experience that the original ‘just add water’ mantra developed under the plan is not the best approach.
“We are working in a different environment in 2024 than we were when the Basin Plan was being developed 15 years ago, but we have still not accepted the need for policy change.”
“While it is extremely difficult for governments to change course with any policy, surely the time has come for a recognition that we need to review the Basin Plan and work towards implementing the balanced productive and environmental goals that our communities were originally promised.
“Water buybacks have already cost thousands of jobs and continue to come at an economic cost of more than $600 million a year in lost production, while also pushing up food prices at the supermarket check-out.
“I would encourage the Albanese Government, and Water Minister Tanya Plibersek, to acknowledge that sufficient water has been recovered to provide future generations with a sustainable environment, and work with communities on projects that will deliver the environmental benefits we all want to see.
“Our organisation has undertaken significant work on how this can be achieved, and would welcome the opportunity to collaborate with the government and the MDBA so it can be delivered.”
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