Senate Committee's water buyback support concerning

Published on 15 November 2023

Gannawarra Shire Council has joined neighbouring municipalities in raising concerns regarding the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee’s report on the Water Amendment (Restoring Our Rivers) Bill 2023.

A Senate Committee inquiry looking at the proposed changes to the Water Act 2007, the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 concluded it supported the expanded use of voluntary buybacks from willing sellers as an effective way to contribute to the achievement of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

“Concerns regarding buybacks were raised in evidence and the committee appreciates this is a sensitive topic for many, particularly those areas that rely heavily on irrigated agriculture. However, the committee agrees with submitters’ who put the contrary view that over a decade has passed since legislating agreed water recovery targets, and there is now an urgent need to recover the agreed volumes of water for the environment,” the committee stated in its final report.

“Council is concerned that the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee is supporting the resumption of water buybacks, especially when agriculture is the main driver of our local economy,” Mayor Ross Stanton said.

“Our communities are still feeling the effects of the last buyback period which reduced the amount of water available for agricultural use, and had a detrimental effect on irrigators, especially in the dairy sector.

“Any resumption of buybacks will have flow on impacts to most people in the community, at a time when we are experiencing new investments in agriculture and positive population growth.”

Council, via its membership with the Murray River Group of Councils, has been promoting the #PushBackBuyBack campaign, which calls for the Federal Government to halt plans to resume using buyback processes to seek additional water for environmental use across the Murray-Darling Basin.

“There is still time for residents to lobby our politicians to stop these amendments. Something as simple as writing to one of the crossbench Senators could be all it takes to prevent these changes from occurring, which will preserve our current way of life,” Mayor Stanton said.

You can support the #PushBackBuyBack campaign by visiting www.mrgc.com.au/pushbackbuybacks/ and signing the online petition or using the letter templates to send your feedback to your local Member of Parliament or one of the five crossbench Senators.