Murray-Darling Basin Plan

Members Statement: On 18 December 2018 water ministers, both federal and state, lauded the agreement they had reached on establishing a socio-economic test for the recovery of water under the Murray-Darling Basin plan. On that day hundreds of farmers from across the southern basin marched from Southern Cross station to the steps of the Park Hyatt near Parliament House to voice their concerns about the continuing removal of water from the consumptive pool used for irrigation to produce food.

The agreement required that future water recovery projects for the additional 450 gigalitres must demonstrate positive or neutral outcomes based on detailed socio-economic criteria. It did not take long to see the total disregard for that agreement being exhibited by the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, the federal department rolling out these recovery projects. In the months and years that have followed, we have seen project after project of on-farm projects being approved. The socio-economic test is not being applied as it should be, and as recently as September 2020 the federal Minister for Resources, Water and Northern Australia promised that the commonwealth would pivot away from these sorts of projects to those that saved water through other sorts of projects off farm, such as lining channels, river operations and metering. Just last month, however, we saw six new projects advertised. The federal government has breached the terms and the spirit of the agreement, and I urge the Victorian government to enforce the agreement by taking whatever steps are necessary.