The Commonwealth offer of $160 million in compensation for unnecessary water recovery in the Murray-Darling Basin is small comfort for small towns and communities taking the hit.
NSW Irrigators’ Council CEO Claire Miller said the funding won’t even touch the sides in terms of what communities will need to adjust to reduced food and fibre production.
“Billions of dollars are being spent on water recovery that costs jobs and income, and all those communities get is a measly one-off $160 million sugar hit,” Ms Miller said.
“The Basin Plan has already achieved its goal with water use consistently below its sustainable diversion limits. The answer now is not more water recovery but investment in measures to fix degradation drivers like invasive European carp wrecking water quality and habitat.
“Removing water from agriculture directly harms the economic lifeblood of regional communities. Jobs are lost, local businesses struggle, and entire towns face decline.
“There is so much wrong with this tokenistic amount of funding, least of all the fact that it wouldn’t be necessary in the first place if the Government wasn’t deliberately implementing policy it knows will hollow out these communities.”
Initially the funding was announced for nine councils in the southern NSW Basin, but the federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water has since said the $160 million was for the whole State.
“The funding was already not enough to help frontline communities in the NSW southern Basin, now we are told it will have to be vegemited across the whole State,” said Ms Miller.
“We will be working with the NSW Government and councils to make the most of these breadcrumbs. We can’t have a repeat of the tokenistic grants from the last round of buybacks that did not deliver lasting returns,” Ms Miller said.
“Water recovery under the Basin Plan and earlier reforms means 72 per cent of water now stays in the river and the rest is used for town water, recreation and farming. The Government now needs to focus on using that water better, rather than buying another 450 GL.
“The Commonwealth needs to put an end to the reckless water recovery programs and invest in alternative measures that genuinely address the health of the river system without devastating regional communities.”
