Extra flows draw irrigator fire

OCTOBER 27, 2012 4:20am

Extra flows draw irrigator fire

The Federal Government's plan to increase environmental flows in the Murray-Darling Basin has drawn a stern response, with the Victorian Water Minister, irrigators and farming groups lining up to criticise the scheme.

By Geoff Adams

The Federal Government will take another 450Gl for Murray-Darling environmental use under a new plan announced by Prime Minister Julia Gillard in South Australia yesterday.

Irrigating farmers criticised the decision to lift the take from the 2750Gl/year recommended by the Murray Darling Basin Authority to 3200 Gl.

The government is putting up $1.7billion to be spent by 2024 to fix river constraints, lift bridges, negotiate easements on land that will be flooded and generate water savings from on-farm projects.

Victorian Water Minister Peter Walsh said the government was ‘‘bitterly disappointed’’ the Commonwealth Government had dropped the 2750Gl goal.

‘‘Instead the Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Tony Burke are off on a fantasy trip with South Australia promising measures that other Basin states cannot and will not accept,’’ Mr Walsh said of the announcement which was made at the Murray mouth in South Australia.

The Goulburn Valley Environment Group has welcomed the announcement and said it would deliver security to the river.

‘‘The volume of 3200Gl is important to achieve the majority of the environmental targets set by the Murray Darling Basin Authority for the river’s icon sites,’’ group water spokesman Terry Court said.

VFF Water Council chairman Richard Anderson said the PM’s last-minute decision was all about pandering to South Australia’s key Labor-held marginal electorates.

He said the $1.7billion should be going to meet the 2750Gl target first and foremost.

‘‘We’ve already seen infrastructure spending deliver water and outcomes to the basin, but the $5.8billion the Federal Government has allocated to irrigation infrastructure isn’t enough.

Federal Water Minister Tony Burke said the decision was reflecting what he had been told by irrigators at meetings across the basin: stop buy-backs, and get the water through infrastructure savings.

Mr Walsh said the Murray-Darling Basin Authority’s own modelling shows a 3200Gl plan provides only a marginal improvement in environmental outcomes for a significant socio-economic cost that is just too great for Victoria’s Basin communities.

‘‘Removing constraints essentially means allowing the significant flooding of private land along the river systems in Victoria, NSW and South Australia for marginal environmental benefit,’’ Mr Walsh said.