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A $13 billion scheme to recover 3200 gigalitres a year of water for the ailing Murray-Darling river system looks set to be saved after the government struck a last-gasp deal with the Greens to ensure the national environmental reform is completed.
The Greens have agreed to back Environment and Water Minister Tanya Plibersek’s Restoring Our Rivers bill, which removes barriers to more water buybacks and opens the door to a new round of water-saving infrastructure projects.
Environment and Water Minister Tanya Plibersek (right) and Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young announcing their deal on Monday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen.
It would allow up to 750 gigalitres of outstanding water to be bought back from willing farmers and extends the deadline for its recovery from December until the end of 2027.
Plibersek’s bill pits the Albanese government against farmers and Victoria, both of which oppose more buybacks. The government still needs to lock in support from two Senate crossbenchers, and Plibersek said negotiations were ongoing.
The $13 billion basin plan was created by the Gillard government in 2012 to restore the river’s health by boosting water flows by 3200 gigalitres a year – more than six times the volume of Sydney Harbour – after experts found the Murray-Darling system was in peril due to excessive extractions for irrigation.
But water recovery was slow under the Coalition government between 2013 and 2022, partly due to strict rules imposed to halt buybacks.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pledged during the 2022 election to deliver the basin plan in full.
Plibersek said the plan must be completed because climate change was forecast to further shrink river flows, degrade river health and increase the likelihood of a repeat of the 2018-19 catastrophe in the Darling River, when more than 1 million native fish are thought to have perished.
Murray Darling waterbird populations have dwindled by an estimated 70 per cent in the past 35 years. Native fish stocks are also far below historical levels and the iconic Murray cod is among dozens of fish and frog species on the national threatened species list.
“We’re talking about the largest inland river system in Australia, supporting threatened plants and animals and delivering drinking water for 3 million Australians. We have to get this right,” Plibersek said.
The Greens demanded Plibersek insert a guarantee into her bill that a minimum of 450 gigalitres from farmers’ water entitlements be restored to the river, as the original wording committed the government only to use its “best endeavours”.
They also secured a boost in funding from $40 million to $100 million to buy water rights for Indigenous groups to use for cultural and economic purposes.
Greens environment and water spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young said the deal would ensure the basin plan was completed.
“This breakthrough agreement will help protect the river from over-extraction, mass fish kills and environmental degradation as El Nino, drought and climate change threaten,” she said.
When Plibersek first outlined her reforms in August, Victorian Water Minister Harriet Shing said farmers in her state should not be subject to further water recovery.
“Victoria has a long-standing opposition to buybacks and nothing we have seen in this deal has changed that position,” Shing said at the time.
Nationals leader David Littleproud said reducing irrigation entitlements would cripple irrigation towns, raise the price of water and increase the price of food.
“You might think that this is a great thing for you living in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. It’s not,” Littleproud said.
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