FROM THE EXECUTIVE
From the Executive ...
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These projections raise serious questions around food security , business and community viability and the inevitable personal wellbeing challenges for many within the basin .
Peter Hayes , ABA Chairperson and Tim Jackson , ABA CEO
Water changes threaten irrigation industries
COMMUNITIES throughout the Murray-Darling Basin are being faced with potentially devastating law changes to how water in the basin will be managed . The Federal Minister for Water and the Environment , Tanya Plibersek , tabled a Bill in Parliament recently that if legislated in its current form will have a massive impact on the cost of water and viability of many industries linked to the irrigation systems within the basin . The Bill opens the way for the Federal Government to buy back unlimited water from water holders . It is a quantum adjustment to the original conditions within the Murray- Darling Basin Plan that won bipartisan support . The changes are being justified on the back of water savings targets within the plan not being reached over the past decade . The ABA and many others acknowledge that the progress of water saving measures set out in the plan have not moved as quickly as they should have , but with a renewed push and leadership that inspires basin-wide support there is a myriad of measures that could be implemented to achieve savings without buying one drop of water . The Bill proposes to allow buybacks for 450 gigalitres by watering down provisions within the original plan that focus on the socio-economic impact measures of such a move . This was
River communities throughout the Murray-Darling Basin are under threat from potential changes to the way water in the basin is managed .
never the intention of the original plan , as noted by the then Minister for Water Tony Burke . The ABA is totally opposed to buybacks as a solution to the plan ’ s progress . While the proposed Bill provides a two-year window to complete more projects to achieve greater savings , there are provisions that the board regards as extreme . The Bill also proposed to remove the 1500GL buyback cap that would allow the Commonwealth to continue to purchase unlimited water . Once again , this measure would allow the Commonwealth to purchase volumes without any consideration for the damage it causes or without any accountability on how that what could be used efficiently . In the words of the National Farmers Federation , this Bill is not fit for purpose . One of the biggest food producing regions in Australia will produce less food and it will become more expensive . Jobs will be lost , and rural
4 In A Nutshell - Spring 2023 Vol 24 Issue 3