Last week Tanya Plibersek, Federal Minister for Water and the Member for Sydney confirmed it is her intention to repurpose the over recovered water in the Macquarie Valley to the failing 450GL Additional Environmental Water Recovery program.

The Macquarie Valley – which includes the townships of Dubbo, Wellington, Narromine, Trangie, Warren and Cobar, as well as many smaller villages – has been the subject of over recovery of water under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan since 2014.

This means the Federal Government has purchased more water from the Macquarie Valley than was needed as per Murray Darling Basin Plan targets.

Macquarie River Food and Fibre Executive Officer Michael Drum said the decision to use that over recovered water towards the 450GL targets is purely a political decision by the Member for Sydney.

“Minister Plibersek has shown complete ignorance to the approximately $1 billion of economic damage our communities have suffered from over recovery so far,” Mr Drum said.

“But worse than that, the Minister is prepared to continue this ongoing damage in the Macquarie Valley to falsely claim successful progress on failing Government programs in her electorate. Her eyes are firmly on the ballot box, and not on the communities she is breaking.”

According to data from WaterNSW, 88 per cent of all flows between 2011 and 2023 have gone to the environment, 11 per cent has been used commercially and towns have received a paltry one per cent.

“The Macquarie Valley is well below its Sustainable Diversion Limit (SDL), with 88 per cent of all water going to the environment over the last decade or so,” Mr Drum said.

“That’s over 33 Sydney Harbours to the environment, and more specifically the Macquarie Marshes and adjacent private land holdings.”

A total of 40GL of water has been over recovered in the Macquarie Valley, which is the equivalent of 16,000 Olympic swimming pools and equates to approximately $90 million per annum of lost production just at the farm gate, let alone the flow on impacts to Macquarie communities.

“That impact has resulted in lost local employment, population decline in small regional towns, business closures and increased pressure on community resources like schools and medical services,” Mr Drum said.

“It also jeopardises local town water security as we saw in the last drought from Dubbo to Warren, Nyngan and Cobar which have only received a mere one per cent of all flows in the Macquarie in the period between 2011 and 2023.

“Minister Plibersek needs to be held to account for this appalling set of circumstances and the huge inequity being created under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

“The Member for Sydney is selling out regional communities in the Macquarie to gather votes in her own city electorate. There’s no other reasonable explanation to retain the over recovered water.

“From our point of view, enough damage has been done, the water needs to be returned in line with the intent of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and not used for Tany Plibersek’s political gain.”

Federal Member for Parkes Mark Coulton said the Labor Government’s plan to take 450GL of productive water from the Basin is all about appeasing the inner-city left with complete disregard for the impact it will have on the communities who rely on that water.

“Water is the lifeblood that employs people, provides prosperity and is the very reason these communities are there,” Mr Coulton said.

“The attack on the Murray-Darling Basin, on the farmers and communities in that area, is just a clear indication of Labor’s lack of understanding.

“We’re now seeing advertisements on TV saying this Government is going to stop the rivers from ever drying again. They are ephemeral rivers and have been since time began. But that’s the sort of blind ignorance and misinformation we are seeing from the Government on this.”

Macquarie River Food and Fibre, along with Mr Coulton and the mayors of Warren and Narromine shires, is calling on the Federal Government to immediately engage with key stakeholders in the Macquarie Valley to commence the process of returning the over recovered water to the Macquarie Valley as intended under the Murray Darling Basin Plan water recovery process.

“Why should our small communities unfairly shoulder the burden for other valleys in the Murray Darling Basin that have not contributed their fair share to the Plan?” Warren Shire Council Mayor Milton Quigley questioned.

“Why should our town’s economic and social viability be put further at risk than could be reasonably expected. Why is a job in Warren or Narromine worth less than one somewhere else?”

“The Basin Plan set equitable targets based on sound socio economic tests,” Narromine Shire Council Mayor Craig 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.”