The recent announcement by Federal Water Minister Murray Watt to purchase a further 130 gigalitres of water from the southern basin will seriously impact the future of Australia’s dairy industry.
Irrigation underpins the success of many dairy farmers across the country — whether it is used on-farm or used to grow fodder that makes its way back to the farm — the repercussions are enormous.
As more water leaves the productive pool, both delivery and water prices increase along with competition.
Australian Dairy Farmers said the non-strategic buyback was, “taking away water from farmers.”
ADF president Ben Bennett said dairy farmers had already given up significant water rights since the millennium drought to help restore river health, yet are now being asked to cop even more pain for questionable gain.
“Our dairy farmers have done the heavy lifting to improve the basin’s environmental health.
“We’ve invested heavily in water efficiency and drought resilience and have a proud environmental history as being stewards of the land. But this announcement ignores those efforts and punishes us for it.
“Buybacks create insecurity and make food production unsustainable.”
Mr Bennett pointed to a recent report commissioned by Dairy Australia that warned of devastating economic impacts from more buybacks — warnings the government has effectively ignored.
“No further buybacks should proceed without a comprehensive assessment of the damage this announcement will do to our dairy farmers, processors and rural towns,” Mr Bennett said.
Gunbower dairy farmer Stephen Brown questioned how the government will even deliver this extra water, when they can’t even deliver what they already have.
“It’s hogwash and destroying our rural communities,” Mr Brown said.
“Buybacks are a slow death of irrigated dairy and our rural towns.”
Mr Brown said he could remember when talk around the Basin Plan first started, his dad stood up in a public meeting and said this rubbish would be the end of irrigation.
“He was ridiculed at the time, but he was spot on - every megalitre of water is now like a gold bar and sooner or later it leaves the area, taking productivity and economic growth with it.”
VFF water chair Andrew Leahy said the 130Gl taken from the southern basin would most likely impact Victoria the hardest.
“This latest move is unforgivable and will only worsen the relentless drain of water in Victoria’s irrigation heartland,” Mr Leahy said.
“It is unclear how much of the 130Gl will be purchased from Victoria, but given Victoria has one of the highest reliability water products in the basin, we no doubt will continue to be unfairly targeted, our water is like a magnet for Canberra.
“We shouldn’t be punished for managing our water efficiently, we’re not the easy target.”
National Irrigators’ Council chief executive Zara Lowien said the announcement in Adelaide was a slap in the face and comes at a huge cost to the Federal Government, and farming and rural communities.
“They are now facing less water and higher costs that are not being considered properly nor adequately addressed by the Sustaining Basin Communities program, as promised,” she said.
G-MW chair Justin Hanney said buybacks continued to undermine the long-term viability of irrigation districts and regional towns and failed to deliver the balanced social, economic, and environmental outcomes intended under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
“Open-tender water purchases have had a big impact on communities in our region in the past,” Mr Hanney said.
“These non-strategic purchases create a Swiss cheese effect, where the patchy nature of the buybacks means we are delivering less water, but still have the same costs relating to infrastructure operation and maintenance.
G-MW has previously raised concerns that bills could increase significantly for some customers under the buybacks.
The Goulburn Murray Irrigation District Water Leadership Forum co-chair Suzanna Sheed said the buybacks would “significantly damage” the agriculture sector.
“This decision is a devastating blow to our irrigation communities and regional economies,” she said.
“It represents a complete disregard for the long-term viability of food production and the enormous investments made in irrigation infrastructure.”