Murray-Darling Basin Plan

At 5pm on 26 November 2012, Federal Water Minister, Tony Burke tabled the final Basin Plan in Parliament. This was closely followed by a disallowance motion, lodged by Federal Member for Riverina, Michael McCormack. Two further disallowance motions were lodged the following day by Senator Sarah Hanson-Young and Federal Member for Kennedy, Bob Katter. The disallowance motion in the Senate was defeated (44 – 9) and the disallowance motions in the House of Representatives, considered together, were also defeated (95 – 5). Since all motions were defeated, the Basin Plan is now law and comes into effect in 2019.

In the final weeks of Parliament for the year, significant pressure from peak industry and community groups, including the Murrumbidgee Valley Stakeholder Group (of which we are a member) was exerted to cap buybacks. As a result, the Federal Opposition made a commitment that they would amend the Water Act (2007) to cap the total volume of water buybacks at 1500GL should they win the next election. This is a very welcome announcement.

The final Basin Plan evolved significantly from first draft presented in 2010. Many of the concerns that we, and other stakeholders raised were taken on board by the Murray Darling Basin Authority and the Government.

The focus now shifts to the implementation phase of the Basin Plan and ensuring water is recovered for the environment through methods that cause the least harm to our business and the community. Our immediate priority is to ensure changes are made to the tax legislation. This will allow us to accept the $149 million in PIIOP funding, awarded to us late last year, and progress irrigation infrastructure modernisation projects as planned.

Link  15 Feb 2013 - Update from the MDBA on the Basin Plan Implementation

Link  The Basin Plan Implementation Steps (MDBA Website)

Independent Economics Report

MI was also one of the funding partners who commissioned Independent Economics to examine the assumptions and model impacts of the Murray Darling Basin Plan for the South West Murrumbidgee. This report was released on 16 April 2012. 

The Independent study found that a 29 per cent reduction in productive water use in the South West Murrumbidgee (Griffith, Leeton, Narrandera, Carrathool and Murrumbidgee local government areas)  is likely to permanently reduce employment by 2,100 jobs, comprising 700 jobs from farming and processing businesses and 1,400 jobs from urban based service industries. The study also estimates GDP in this region will reduce by about 9 per cent and income by about $200 million. 

In addition, the study found that recovering this water through infrastructure investments rather than buyback  will eliminate the costs of water purchases for regional communities, although the national costs will likely increase.

This report was also provided to the MDBA as a submission.

Read the full report  Modelling the Economic Impact of the Draft Basin Plan.

What you can do

You can continue to raise issues of concern by writing to key politicians listed below.

Download  Political Contact List (PDF)