Australia’s federal water minister Tanya Plibersek has hinted at the potential extension of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan’s 2024 deadline, acknowledging the states’ difficulty in achieving the plan within the set time-frame.
In a meeting with basin states on Oct. 12—the first since Plibersek was appointed the portfolio in May—Plibersek said the federal government was committed to the full delivery of the plan but “flexible” on how it will be achieved.
“I have to take into account, realistically, what states and territories are saying to me, but I’m not taking my foot off the accelerator just yet,” Plibersek said at the water ministers’ meeting on Oct. 12 in Canberra.
“I’m pushing for 2024 implementation, but I’m acknowledging that it’s hard to get there … we need a pathway to getting to the full implementation of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.”
Both NSW and Victoria have previously said they would be unable to meet the 2024 deadline, with NSW requesting more time and funding and Victoria saying the deadline was “unrealistic.” Further, Victoria has said that additional water recovery towards the 450 gigalitre efficiency project would only be considered if there were “no negative socio-economic impacts, and without buybacks.”
Plibersek has not committed to introducing water buybacks, which have been opposed by NSW and Victoria, but sees “voluntary buybacks” “very beneficial” to achieving the 450 gigalitre target.
Current State of the Murray Darling Basin Plan
Since the plan was legislated in 2012, more than 2,100 gigalitres of water have been relocated back into the environment. Under the plan, the basin states agreed to remove 2,750 gigalitres of water from irrigated agriculture and relocate that back into the basin by 2024.An additional 450 gigalitres of water was to be recovered through “efficiency measures” however, only two gigalitres have been recovered. This target was set in 2018.
Part of the agreement under the “efficiency measures” was that strict conditions were to be met under which the water could be recovered, such as having no negative socio-economic impact on river communities.
Then-Victorian Minister Lisa Neville said the socio-economic test would be applied to all basin states.
“We will each be applying the same criteria to every single proposal and every single project to ensure that only those projects that are neutral or provide better socio-economic outcomes will be approved through this process,” Neville said in 2018.
However, South Australia’s Water Minister Susan Close called for an end to the socio-economic test ahead of the water ministers’ meeting on Oct. 12.
“I am putting the eastern states on notice,” she said, adding that her state will “not settle for anything less than the full 450 gigalitres promised to us, regardless of how it’s achieved.”
Meanwhile, NSW water minister Kevin Anderson has called for greater flexibility among basin water ministers.
“This action will provide a pathway to achieve the outcomes intended by the Basin Plan in a way that does not come at the expense of the communities that live and work in the Basin.”
Anderson said that NSW was committed to completing all of its water resource plans by the end of this year.
NSW is responsible for 20 of the 33 Basin water resource plans, which were originally due to be in place in 2019.
The basin ministers are expected to meet again in February 2023 to negotiate a decision to extend the basin plan.
Plibersek has previously said that delivering the Murray Darling Basin Plan before the 2024 deadline would be “next to impossible.”
