Photo caption: Federal Member for Parkes Mark Coulton (centre) joined MRFF Executive Officer Michael Drum, Warren Mayor Milton Quigley, Narromine Mayor Craig Davies and MRFF Chair Stewart Dentson in Dubbo to call for over-recovered water to be returned to the Macquarie Valley.
Federal Member for Parkes Mark Coulton has joined with the mayors of Warren and Narromine shires, as well as Macquarie River Food and Fibre (MRFF), to call on the Federal Government to return over-recovered water to the Macquarie Valley.
This comes following the release of the Productivity Commission’s review of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan which has endorsed Labor’s amendments to the Plan under the Restoring Our Rivers Act.
“The Productivity Commission report just further validates Labor’s plans to recover the 450 gigalitres of additional environmental water,” Mr Coulton said.
“Water Minister Tanya Plibersek has indicated that she has no intention of returning over-recovered water back into production which is very concerning for Basin communities in my electorate.
“Communities in the northern Basin have already been gutted by water buybacks and the over-recovery of water. They’ve done more than their fair share of the heavy lifting and cannot afford to lose any more productive water – water that is used to grow the crops that help feed our country.
“It’s going to be challenging enough for the Government to meet the Basin Plan’s unrealistic water recovery targets through voluntary water buybacks, so I fear that any water that has already been over-recovered in the Macquarie Valley will be used to help achieve that 450GL, much to the detriment of the Dubbo, Narromine, Warren, Trangie and Cobar communities.”
A total of 38.2GL has been over-recovered in the Macquarie-Castlereagh catchment as of 31 December 2023[i], which equates to approximately $90 million of lost production per year at the farm gate alone.
Macquarie River Food and Fibre Executive Officer Michael Drum is calling on the Federal Government to engage with key stakeholders to commence the process of returning over-recovered water back to the Macquarie Valley, as intended under the original Murray-Darling Basin Plan water recovery process.
“We strongly oppose the repurposing of any over-recovered water for other environmental programs such as the 450GL of additional environmental water, for which it was never intended,” Mr Drum said.
“Use of Macquarie water for those programs is effectively robbing Peter to pay Paul, unduly burdening our communities to cover for the Government which hasn’t made any progress towards actual efficiency projects to recovering that 450GL.
“The Government is now looking to keep what should be returned to the communities of the Macquarie to cover their shortfall.
“Surely our communities have suffered enough. It’s time to correct the ledger.”
Warren Shire Council Mayor Milton Quigley said communities in the Macquarie Valley have been effectively disadvantaged from day one of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
“We’ve already suffered through 10 years of over-recovery, which has been recognised by past federal water ministers, the Murray-Darling Basin Authority and other agencies which all agree the water needs to be returned,” Cr Quigley said.
“It’s unfair and unreasonable that our small communities shoulder the burden for other valleys in the Murray-Darling Basin that have not contributed their fair share to the Plan. Why should our town’s economic and social viability be put further at risk than could be reasonably expected?”
Narromine Shire Council Mayor Craig Davies said the Government needs to consider the impact that this water has on the livelihood of towns like Narromine and Warren.
“Prior to the recent amendments, the Basin Plan set equitable targets based on sound socio-economic tests,” Cr Davies said.
“Retention or repurposing over-recovered water from the Macquarie by the Federal Government fails those tests on all measures. The inequity of this situation must be resolved immediately to stop the decade-long economic hardship felt by our communities.”
[i] https://www.mdba.gov.au/sites/default/files/publications/progress-on-water-recovery-summary-table-december-2023.pdf