The Commonwealth government will drain another 130GL of water they can’t use from Southern Basin farming communities after Federal Minister for the Environment and Water, Murray Watt announced more devastating buybacks today, taking the total amount of water purchased from agricultural production to almost 1400GL.
VFF Water Council Chair and Murrabit dairy farmer Andrew Leahy who attended the MDBA Conference where Federal Water Minister Watt delivered this devastating news said it shows just how out of touch the Commonwealth is about the impacts of buybacks.
“We’ve seen the devastation caused by previous buybacks, communities hollowed out, jobs lost, and food production capacity permanently reduced. It’s death by a thousand cuts.”
“The dairy industry’s recent report showed that taking more water would cut milk production by 270 million litres and cost dairy processors up to $545 million each year”.
“This latest move is unforgivable and will only worsen the relentless drain of water in Victoria’s irrigation heartland”, Mr Leahy said.
The Commonwealth has purchased around 600GL from Victoria already with a further 130GL set to come from the Southern Basin.
“It is unclear how much of the 130GL will be purchased from Victoria, but given Victoria has one of the highest reliability water products in the Basin, we no doubt will continue to be unfairly targeted, our water is like a magnet for Canberra”.
“We shouldn’t be punished for managing our water efficiently, we’re not the easy target,” Mr Leahy said.
Mr Leahy added more focus must be put on the northern Basin, where environmental problems continue to impact the Darling system. “We can’t ignore that it’s a Murray-Darling Basin Plan, the Commonwealth seems to have forgotten the Darling”.
“You can’t fix environmental degradation in the north by draining more water from the south. This is a political game to secure votes in South Australia, not sound water policy.”
“The Basin Plan is a 2750GL plan that is due to be completed in 2026. Instead of focussing on the actual plan and whether these targets will be met, the Commonwealth is fixated on its political promise to South Australia to deliver an extra 450GL beyond the 2750GL target.”
“Today’s announcement is all about the 450GL, the Commonwealth is not even talking about the plan’s 2750GL target”.
“To chase the 450GL at the expense of farmers and food producers is irresponsible and short sighted”.
The VFF is calling on the government to:
- Halt all new buybacks until full socio-economic impact assessments are published;
- Focus first on meeting the 2750 GL recovery target before pursuing politically motivated ‘upwater’ targets;
- Invest in alternative environmental measures, such as constraints management, infrastructure efficiency, and river restoration projects that improve river health without removing more productive water.
“As we move towards the 2026 Basin Review, we must remember that river health is about more than just adding water.”
“We need to look at smarter, more holistic solutions that protect both the environment and the communities that feed this nation.”
“The government can’t continue to ignore the evidence, ignore the people on the ground, and destroy communities under the guise of environmental virtue. These buybacks are not sustainable, not fair, and not responsible.”