Farmers stand to lose access to substantial volumes of water without any evidence it would necessarily make a material difference to flows in the Barwon-Darling River, if recommendations in the Independent Expert Connectivity Panel's final report were adopted.
NSW Irrigators' Council (NSWIC) CEO Claire Miller said while the Government had today stated that improving the river's health must be done in a way that does not have a detrimental impact on regional communities, its actions on the final panel report would speak louder than words.
"We need to see the Government taking a balanced, evidence-based approach that supports both environmental sustainability and the economic health of our agricultural communities," Ms Miller said.
"What we cannot accept are arbitrary rules changes to help the Commonwealth recover water in the northern Basin towards its 450 GL target. This would amount to compulsory acquisition - and without compensation - breaching the 2013 intergovernmental Basin Plan agreement.
"Acting on the panel's recommendations would also set a precedent to simply change rules in the southern Basin as well to reduce farmers' water access, if the Commonwealth falls short on its buybacks targets there.
"Alarmingly, the panel also proposes operational changes to the Menindee Lakes to reduce the volume of water shared between NSW, Victoria and South Australia for allocation to farmers in the southern Basin."
Ms Miller said the Panel had again failed to provide evidence that restricting water access would make a material difference to meeting recommended flow targets in the Barwon-Darling.
"On the basis of little more than it 'feels right', the panel wants the Government to restrict the ability of farmers and communities in the Border Rivers, Gwydir and Namoi valleys to divert water in times of plenty to tide them through dry times."
The final report released today ignores the evidence that WaterNSW river operators in those three valleys are already extremely conservative about when and for how long they allow access.
"Gauge data and access announcements demonstrate that in practice, river operators have only allowed supplementary licence access in upstream tributaries when downstream flow rates consistent with the panel recommendations are already occurring," Ms Miller said.
"Imposing unnecessary restrictions would only pander to the false narrative that 'just add more water' is the only way to improve the health of rivers across the Murray-Darling Basin.
"This simplistic, silver bullet approach seeks to make scapegoats out of irrigated agriculture and the communities that depend on it, and let governments off the hook on investing in addressing the degradation drivers still making our rivers sick."
Drivers in the Barwon-Darling River include the proliferation of carp and other feral pests wrecking water quality and native species habitat, lack of fish passageways, lack of modern fish screening, and failure to enter partnerships with landholders to improve the health of riparian zones and wetlands on private property.
