After more than a decade of mismanagement and sabotage of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan under the Coalition, whereby upstream states were allowed to ignore efficiency deadlines, voluntary buybacks are now the only way South Australia will recover the bulk of the 450 gigalitres promised but not delivered.
The Albanese Government's Water Amendment (Restoring Our Rivers) Bill 2023 passed the House Representatives this week despite the Opposition, including Mr Stevens, voting against it.
Speaking against the Bill, Barker MP, Tony Pasin, claimed "the Riverland population shrunk by 30 per cent the last time we did this" despite official data showing no such reduction.
The Royal Commission into the River Murray in SA dispelled the myth voluntary buybacks adversely impact communities.
In his report, Royal Commissioner Brett Walker SC said, "there is no proportional relationship between a reduction in the use of water for consumptive use, and farm production".
In a submission to the Water Amendment (Restoring Our Rivers) Bill 2023, the Commissioner for the River Murray, Richard Beasley SC, also highlighted the lack of any peer reviewed research on supposed impacts of buybacks.
"These assertions are not supported by peer reviewed economic research or papers, or defensible economic reports," Mr Beasley said.
What has been established by such reports, Mr Beasley continued, was:
- buying water was cheaper for governments
- money earned from buybacks was spent locally
- most farmers only sold part of their rights
- farmers reduced their debt
- water purchases provide greater certainty than other measures
In the event there were any legitimate impacts on communities, the Albanese Government has set aside $20 million for South Australia.
Federal SA Liberals have been having a bob each way on voluntary buybacks, opposing them in country seats and supporting them in marginal city seats.
However, when it came to the crunch, the hard right, which has taken over the party, got their way and voted against the interests of all South Australians.
As put by Susan Close
I'm staggered that people elected to represent South Australia's interests on the national stage have instead sided with upstream states that seek to deny our State what was promised to get us to sign up to the Plan.
They are not on Team SA and have abandoned our irrigators and the more than one million South Australians that rely on a healthy working river.
I know there are South Australian irrigators wanting to sell some of their entitlement for the environment because I've had state Liberal MPs call my office inquiring about how their constituents go about applying.
