Leyonhjelm lambastes Labor on Basin water

Last week former Labor Water Minister Tony Burke responded to calls by irrigators who declared the terms of reference for a new and independent study into the socio-economic impacts of the additional 450 gigalitres of ‘up water’ in environmental flows in the Basin Plan, underscored the need to protect farming communities.

Mr Burke was at the helm when the Basin Plan was signed into law in late 2012 where the 450GL component was controversially added late in the process.

He is now shadowing the current Agriculture and Water Resources Minister Barnaby Joyce, raising warnings about messing with the plan’s balance at strategic intervals.

Mr Burke said his counterpart, who was the Shadow Water Minister when the Basin Plan was being formulated, must now respond to the National Irrigators Council’s comments about the independent study, in an even handed way.

He said the Basin Plan was now “finely balanced” in terms of river health, community impacts the attitudes of various stakeholders.

“It would be naïve for anyone to think that you can vary the socio-economic test contained in the plan, which is used for the 450GL of additional water, without there being corresponding calls from environment groups about the 650GL of virtual water,” he said.

“Any criticism of the limitations on the socio-economic test needs to be aware that there is in a similar way, and to the advantage of irrigation communities, limitations attached to the environmental test.

“That’s how the plan was designed - that’s why the plan is balanced.

“If the government seeks to change that balance, the government is running the risk that the entire consensus around the plan will unravel and unravel dramatically.”

But Senator Leyonhjelm, who chaired a Senate Select Committee inquiry on the Basin Plan in the previous parliament, said Labor’s insistence on sending more water down the Murray, only to evaporate in the Lower Lakes in SA, would “devastate” farming communities in Queensland, NSW and Victoria.

“Clearly the Labor party has not been paying attention to the hardship caused by the removal of over 2000GL of water from Basin communities to date,” he said.

“If it had, it would know that further cuts will devastate communities and force some into terminal decline.

“The Murray Darling Basin is steadily recovering from the Millennium Drought as a result of the two flood events in the last five years, which restored the natural balance.

“The environment is doing just fine and more water does not need to be taken from farming and sent to SA to evaporate.”

Senator Leyonhjelm said the Committee inquiry made 31 recommendations including calling for further analysis of the Basin Plan’s economic and social impacts and also heard that employment in many irrigation communities has been “smashed” by the removal of water from farming purposes.

He said another recommendation was to re-examine the Ramsar listing of the South Australian Lower Lakes, in order to determine whether they should be returned to their natural estuarine state.

The Committee also heard that large amounts of fresh water sent to the lakes to keep them fresh is simply evaporated, he said.

Senator Leyonhjelm said the Basin Plan was conceived in haste and panic during the drought, based on the assumption that normal rainfall would never fall again and was “flawed from the very beginning”.

“We are all in favour of protecting the natural environment, but sending additional water to SA to evaporate is of no benefit to the environment,” he said.

“I urge the government to give urgent consideration to the recommendations of the Select Committee so that rural communities and businesses can have some certainty.”

Mr Joyce has previously called on Mr Burke to resist playing politics with the Basin Plan’s implementation.