The Minister for Water has welcomed the Commonwealth’s decision to adopt Victoria’s positions on the Murray Darling Basin Plan by announcing that buybacks won’t be part of future water recovery and that the Basin Authority’s functions should be split.
The Minister, Lisa Neville said Victoria had a long standing and consistent position against buybacks and had worked hard to meet its Basin Plan obligations without taking more water from farmers.
“While no further buybacks is welcome, Victoria remains strongly committed to the socio-economic criteria agreed by Basin governments that guarantee projects with negative impacts for communities won’t proceed,” Ms Neville said.
“We know communities in Northern Victoria have suffered very serious socio-economic impacts from water buybacks – loss of productive water from farms, loss of jobs, loss of economic activity and associated social impacts,” she said.
“The socio-economic test will still apply for infrastructure projects to recover water – my position has always been that infrastructure projects that reduce system losses are the best way to recover water for the environment.”
Ms Neville said she had been assured by Federal Minister for Water, Keith Pitt that on farm efficiency projects would not be part of future water recovery.
She said Victoria also supported the Productivity Commission’s recommendations, handed down in 2019, to split the Murray Darling Basin Authority’s (MDBA) policy and enforcement functions to ensure no real or perceived conflict of interest.
“In terms of the MDBA’s policy work there is much to be done – the Commonwealth, the MDBA and Basin states need to improve rules around floodplain harvesting and first flush events,” Ms Neville said.