The government's Murray-Darling bill is a step forward, but still not enough

Australian Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young joined Australian Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek for a press conference before the senate debate. AAP Image/Lukas Coch^[9]

Read more: Labor’s new Murray-Darling Basin Plan deal entrenches water injustice for First Nations^[10]

Water Act and Basin Plan: where are we at?

Born of the crisis of the Millennium drought, the Water Act 2007 was announced by the Howard government to “once and for all^[11]” address over-allocation of water in the Murray-Darling Basin.

Five years later, the Basin Plan 2012 was established to recover 3,200 billion litres of water for the environment from other uses, or to implement projects that deliver “equivalent” outcomes. That includes securing 450 billion litres for the health of the River Murray, Coorong and Lower Lakes.

But this volume of water fell substantially short of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority’s best estimate of what was needed to “ensure the return to environmentally sustainable levels of extraction^[12]”, and did not take climate change into account.

All water recovery targets were expected to be met by June 2024. But while some progress has been made, water recovery has almost stalled^[13] in the past decade.

Only 26 billion litres have been recovered^[14] of the crucial 450 billion litres.

Of the 36 water offset projects meant to be operational by 2024, 16 are not likely to be complete^[15], contributing to a likely shortfall of between 190 billion and 315 billion litres.

No onground work has commenced to alleviate flow “constraints”, leaving thousands of hectares of floodplain forests in the River Murray disconnected from their channels and at risk of drying out and dying.

The Water Act and the plan do not provide for First Nations people’s water rights and interests^[16]. And they fail to deal with climate change^[17].

Reforms to both the legislation and the plan are desperately needed to address these major shortcomings.

Read more: Murray-Darling Basin Plan to be extended under a new agreement, without Victoria – but an uphill battle lies ahead^[18]

Voluntary buybacks are necessary

The new bill represents a clear step towards the first of the Albanese government’s five-point promises^[19] to “deliver on water commitments” by removing the cap on buybacks.

Without buybacks, it is unlikely the federal government will be able to deliver the 3,200 billion-litre plan in full.

While the Senate Committee^[20] acknowledged the impacts of buybacks on communities, the committee found some concerns were “overinflated and not supported by the high-quality evidence base”, referring to a literature review^[21].

The Wentworth Group has long argued^[22] for funding to establish a regional transition fund to support impacted communities through these reforms. As part of these reforms, “significant transitional assistance” was announced^[23] by Plibersek.

Read more: Water buybacks are back on the table in the Murray-Darling Basin. Here's a refresher on how they work^[24]

Statutory guarantees are needed

The bill requires additional measures^[25] to guarantee the unfinished business to which parliament agreed more than a decade ago:

1. a legally binding 450 billion litre water recovery target. The public needs a legal recourse if governments fail to deliver the full volume. We understand the intent of today’s announcement^[26] is to make the target a statutory requirement, in line with other water recovery targets under the plan.

2. improved integrity of the water offset method and withdrawal of unviable water offset projects The agreement^[27] reached today allows the Commonwealth to remove non-viable projects. Significant flaws^[28] in the method used to calculate water offsets still need to be addressed.

3. milestones in the bill’s proposed “constraints roadmap” which specify targets linked to incentive payments.

4. transparency and accountability measures to restore public confidence in water reform, such as whole-of-basin hydrological modelling, water accounting and auditing, and validation of annual permitted take models.

Several of these measures were announced today^[29]. We’re yet to see details but the high-level agreement is encouraging.

Urgent reforms can’t wait to 2027

Australia’s water laws have failed to address^[30] the rights and interests of Indigenous people. Indigenous peoples own a mere 0.2%^[31] of surface water entitlements in the Murray-Darling Basin.

In 2022, the Albanese government committed^[32] to “increasing First Nations ownership of water entitlements and participation in decision making”.

The Senate Committee^[33] found “overwhelming support […] that significantly more needs to be done to incorporate the values and interests of First Nations people in Basin Plan management”.

Many solutions can be readily incorporated into the bill. It should be amended so the legislation is consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and recommendations of Indigenous organisations, such as the Murray-Lower Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations.

The $100 million announced^[34] today for the Aboriginal Water Entitlement Program is welcome, although much was already committed^[35] and the remainder won’t make up for the lost value given entitlement prices, according to analysis^[36] commissioned by the Murray-Lower Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations.

The bill also needs to provide greater clarity for basin communities on how climate change will be incorporated into the Basin Plan review, and strategies for adapting to climate change. This cannot wait until 2027 – communities need to prepare now for their future.

Read more: Victoria’s plans for engineered wetlands on the Murray are environmentally dubious. Here’s a better option^[37]

Read more https://theconversation.com/the-governments-murray-darling-bill-is-a-step-forward-but-still-not-enough-217002

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